Chris Walker

Bio

Chris heads up interactive content and data visualization at Mic. Previously he blogged about data visualization while traveling around India, and before that he worked on big data applications at Palantir Technologies. Chris grew up in the SF Bay Area and graduated from Stanford. In his free time he's training for a marathon and trying to become a better cook.

20 Charts That Will Change Your View of America

By Chris Walker

The American Dream is dead! We’re no longer #1! America is falling apart! With all the sensationalist media coverage of everything from America’s terrible economy to the Ebola epidemic, you would think America is on the brink of collapse. And yet,…

One GIF Shows What the World Series Would Look Like Without Immigrants

By Chris Walker

As the World Series unfolds between the Kansas City Royals and the San Francisco Giants, it's worth remembering what makes America's pastime so, well, American. One look at the everyday lineups for the Royals and the Giants shows that players born…

Here's Where Most People In Their 20s Are Living

By Chris Walker

If you’re in your 20s and want to make the most of it, you might consider living in one of the purple areas on the map below. That’s where most 20-somethings in the United States are hanging out. Source: U.S. Census American Community Survey, 2012.…

How Original Is Your Halloween Costume Idea? Check These Charts.

By Chris Walker

Thinking of dressing as Elsa from Frozen or suiting up as Captain American for Halloween this year? You might consider some other options, because those costumes are likely to be super popular. Using Google Trends, Mic attempted to predict which…

It's Official: America Is at Peak Turnt

By Chris Walker

America is officially all turnt up. That’s according to a very scientific analysis of English slang word popularity conducted by Mic. The analysis relied on Google Trends, which gives search terms a score between 0 and 100, with 100 meaning peak…

Up to Half the U.S. May Be Victims of JPMorgan Cyber Breach

By Chris Walker

Have a Chase bank account? There’s a good chance that your email address, phone number and home address are now in the hands of hackers. Yesterday JPMorgan Chase & Co. disclosed that a shocking 76 million households were affected by a massive…

One Chart Shows Just How Terrified of Hong Kong China's Government Is Right Now

By Chris Walker

Protesters in Hong Kong aren’t just in the streets. They’re flooding into social media too, and that’s made the authoritarian Chinese government nervous. Predictably, the government’s army of Internet censors has been ruthlessly removing social…

How the U.S. Spends Its Dollars Every Second, In One GIF

By Chris Walker

$15,700 per second. That's how much the U.S. will spend on defense and intelligence in 2015, according to President Obama's proposed budget. This amount is 100 times greater than what the government invests in cancer research, and 235 times greater…

What's the Most Important Job Skill To Have in Your State? Check These Maps.

By Chris Walker

If you’re on the job market, chances are you should brush up on your analysis skills. That’s according to data provided to Mic by LinkedIn and Hunch Analytics, a technology consultancy. The data shows the most frequently mentioned skills in job…

The Most Common Job Listings in Every State, in One Map

By Chris Walker

Looking for a job in Utah? You might check out the listings for truck drivers, the top occupation in demand in that state. It turns out truck drivers are the most demanded occupation in multiple states, including Idaho, Colorado, Arizona, New…