The other day I wrote a Story Map describing my struggle to find affordable housing for my young family as a new cog in the workforce.
It included a version of this map (here’s how to make it)…
The mapped units are years of labor, at the current median income, to reach the median price of a home. That’s it. A raw ratio with two basic values everyone can conceptualize.
The story then sliced out the bands into year-based ranges of affordability. Here are those maps presented as an animation…
And, alternatively as a small multiple. Because why not?
The Nelson family in 2002…
Happy Mapping! John
Adventures In Mapping 
A relevant topic, thank you. I am thinking of building a house in Oklahoma. It will be small so that I have more lifetime for important adventures. I just found your beautiful and informative Tornadoes by Bearing map and would like to be able to see it better so I can decide which direction to face my house. Also, I am writing a research paper for English Comp on tornado-resistant, houses built with earth blocks or rammed earth and might like to use your map in that. Is that possible? Do you sell the map? Thanks!
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Of course you can use it! I live in a rickety old wooden farm house in the Midwest. My fingers are crossed.
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