Go up
Exploring SimplyMap Data: Which US Locations Dine Out the Most?
Posted on Nov 06, 2014 by Admin
With over 75,000 variables in SimplyMap, you can find virtually any information you want. This week, we take a look at which U.S. locations spend the most money eating at restaurants or carrying out. Here’s how we did it and what we found.
The variable used was, “Meals at restaurants, carry outs and other (Household Average), 2014.” This variable can be found using this path in SimplyMap: Consumer Expenditure » In 2010 Geographies » Food » Food Away from Home » At Restaurants, Carry-Out, Etc.
Before we rank other geographies, let’s view the nation at large.
This provides a great overview, and we can see that a number of counties, mostly focused in the Northeast and West, lead the way for average household spending on dining out. We can analyze the data further by ranking these counties, using the “Make Ranking from Map” feature, which can be accessed from the Actions menu near the upper right corner of the Map panel.
Selecting, “Make Ranking from Map” yielded the following top 10 counties:
It looks like Loudoun County, VA spends the most amount of money dining out at restaurants in the United States.
Next, we wanted to view the same variable by city. Use the Analyze data by: menu at the top of the report to change the geographic unit to cities (note that you can also choose States, Zip Codes, or even Census Tracts if you want information about a specific local area).
When we switched to city, and applied a data filter to only show cities with more than 50,000 residents (read more about our data filter here), we were left with the following cities:
This information, combined with some additional research in SimplyMap, could be helpful in understanding dining habits in your study area, or even in siting a new business. SimplyMap combines analytical insight from reports like these with the visual impact of compelling maps in your research to help you understand, analyze, and visualize your data.
More from SimplyAnalytics
Posted on Oct 23, 2009 by Admin
SimplyMap was highlighted in the Wake County, NC Public Library Business Blog today as a valuable tool for business planning. Wake County has access to SimplyMap through NC LIVE, a statew...
Posted on Oct 07, 2024 by Admin
We're headed to Charleston! Come visit the SimplyAnalytics team on November 12th at the Gaillard Center at booth 41. We'll be doing live demonstrations of the database, answering question...
Posted on Nov 11, 2014 by Admin
With Veteran’s Day in the US this week, we thought it would be an ideal time to explore some of the variables in SimplyMap that pertain to veterans. Specifically, we wanted to know which ...
Posted on Sep 20, 2011 by Admin
Men's Health magazine has once again published rankings that include research from SimplyMap. They ranked the most (and least) educated cities in America. In addition to several other sou...
Posted on Jul 30, 2008 by Admin
Cornell’s Albert R. Mann Library has subscribed to SimplyMap. They provide some tips and access to the SimplyMap Quick Reference Guide, variable list, and some information on the EASI dat...
Posted on Dec 19, 2016 by Admin
Stop by the Geographic Research booth [#T8] at the Ontario Library Association Super Conference to get a hands-on look at our latest and greatest SimplyMap offering. The conference will t...
Posted on Jan 16, 2026 by Admin
We are excited to be exhibiting at the Public Library Association (PLA) 2026 Conference in Minneapolis this April 1-3!
Posted on Dec 15, 2014 by Admin
Visit the SimplyMap team at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Chicago late January. We will be at booth #2824 offering product demonstrations, tips & tricks, and of course Ghirardelli Choc...
Posted on Mar 14, 2010 by Admin
The GRI team was honored to learn that SimplyMap was included in this year's Choice Outstanding Academic Title List, published in the January 2010 issue of Choice Magazine. This is a grea...
Posted on Sep 10, 2019 by Admin
Hello readers! It’s been a minute since our last tutorial post, but you can expect to see more content on a weekly basis moving forward. “From the Help Desk” is a new feature on the blog ...