Mitchell Thorson
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Mitchell Thorson
@mitchellthorson.com
720 followers 670 following 57 posts
Lead data visualization engineer at the Urban Institute. Otherwise reading books, riding bikes, listening to music, or talking a walk.

💻 mitchellthorson.com
📍 Brooklyn, NY
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And a great version from @nytimes.com as well: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
A screenshot of a New York city map showing vote margins by election district in the 2025 mayoral election.
November 5, 2025 at 1:12 PM
mitchellthorson.com
It's always fascinating to me to see the local geographic breakdown of how New York votes. Great election-district level map from @thecity.nyc www.thecity.nyc/2025/11/04/e...
A screenshot of a New York city map showing vote margins by election district in the 2025 mayoral election.
November 5, 2025 at 1:12 PM
mitchellthorson.com
Spent the weekend visiting family in the DC suburbs. What an absolutely perfect time of year.
A photo of a creek surrounded by trees and vegetation. The leaves of the trees have turned autumnal colors. The sky is blue with some clouds. A photo of a tree stump covered in fungal growth. The low autumnal light is highlighting one side of the stump. A photo looking up at a tree. A flock of crows is circling overhead. The tree is backlit by low autumnal light with highlights on the leaves and branches.
November 3, 2025 at 3:41 PM
mitchellthorson.com
Good morning from the Amtrak Northeast Regional. Truly one of my favorite places to think, read, write and work on projects. The best way to travel and it’s not even close.
A selfie of the author sitting in an Amtrak train car. Natural light from the window illuminates the scene. The subject is wearing a bright green hat.
October 31, 2025 at 1:39 PM
mitchellthorson.com
Just landed a pretty big refactor of the Svelte-powered @urbaninstitute.bsky.social data viz component library that fully embraces runes syntax across all of our components. Svelte continues to be a flexible and powerful tool for our work.

Check out our code on Github github.com/UrbanInstitu...
The image is a screenshot of a Github release page listing new features for the latest release of the @urbaninstitute/dataviz-component-library package. The changes list reads: Fix: Typo; Theme size for h2 on smaller screens now renders at proper font size Breaking: now accepts snippet props for custom background/foreground content and replaces getContext("scrolly") stores with the new useScrollyContext() helper; update slot markup and context access accordingly. Breaking: SVGMap and its layer components now expose pointer interaction callbacks via props (onclick/onmousemove/onmouseout/onbgclick) instead of on:event listeners, and shared state is provided through useSVGMapContext()—replace any getContext("map") usage and update handler wiring. Breaking: DatawrapperIframe emits interaction hooks through lowercase callback props such as onvisrendered/onregionclick instead of Svelte on:event listeners; pass handler functions as props to receive chart events. Breaking: The exported pymChildStore writable has been removed in favor of the rune-based usePymChildContext() helper returned by ; import usePymChildContext() to interact with the active pym.js child instance. Feat: All components use Svelte 5 runes syntax and move away from store-based state where possible.
October 30, 2025 at 7:40 PM
mitchellthorson.com
Today @urbaninstitute.bsky.social launches a new data tool: The American Affordability Tracker. We're collecting data that tracks the rising costs of a secure lifestyle, and indicators of financial distress that are contributing to a growing crisis. See the data here: www.urban.org/data-tools/a...
📊
The image shows a line chart displaying state-level data for the average monthly price of rent. There is 1 line for each state, plus the District of Columbia and the national average. Ohio is highlighted, as it trends steadily upward across the chart. The image shows a US map of congressional districts. The map displays data for the average monthly cost of groceries. The image shows a line chart displaying state-level data for the student loan delinquency rate. There is 1 line for each state, plus the District of Columbia and the national average. New York is highlighted, as it trends downward from 2017 to 2024, before sharply rising again by 2025.
October 28, 2025 at 3:31 PM
mitchellthorson.com
Did you know that nearly half of families in the US with children under 4 struggle to afford diapers?

📊 A new data tool from @urbaninstitute.bsky.social looks at data in states and counties to understand where the largest gaps are.

www.urban.org/data-tools/m...
A map of United States counties showing the number of diapers needed to fill the gap faced by families with young children and low-to-moderate incomes each year. Urban areas and large cities are shaded darkly, indicating a large amount of need, while rural areas also indicate the presence of a gap.
September 9, 2025 at 3:36 PM
mitchellthorson.com
Excited to share this new piece from @urbaninstitute.bsky.social @wcurrangroome.bsky.social @andrewrumbach.bsky.social @sara-mctarnaghan.bsky.social and team that gives an excellent data-driven overview of the last 20 years of natural disasters and federal spending in Gulf Coast states. Lots of 📊!
A county-level map of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida showing the number of major natural disasters since Katrina. The text reads: Every County in the Gulf Coast Has Suffered at Least 3 Major Disasters since Katrina, and Many Have Experienced 10 or More Major disaster declarations by county, 2005–24 Source: Federal Emergency Management Agency, “OpenFEMA Dataset: Disaster Declarations Summaries – v2”, accessed July 18, 2025, https://www.fema.gov/openfema-data-page/disaster-declarations-summaries-v2. Notes: Only major disaster declarations (DR) for natural hazard events are included in this analysis. A time-series chart that shows the cumulative disaster-related property damage from 1992-2023 in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. There are annotations that show that sharp increases in damage align with well-known storms like Hurricane Andrew, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Harvey, and Hurricane Ian. The text reads: Disaster Damages Continue to Rise in the Gulf Coast Twenty Years after Katrina Cumulative disaster-related property damage, 1992–2023 ($) Source: Center for Emergency Management and Homeland Security, Arizona State University, 2025, “Spatial Hazard Events and Losses Database for the United States, Version 23.0,” accessed July 14, 2025. Notes: All dollar amounts are in 2024 dollars. All per capita figures are calculated based on 2023 population estimates. A time-based stacked column chart that shows the amount of FEMA pre-disaster hazard mitigation assistance funcing by program from 2005-2024, broken out into the following programs: SRL, RFC, FMA, PDM, BRIC, LPDM. The amount of funding trends upwards over time, with large totals over $800 million in 2022 and 23. The text reads: FEMA Has Granted Nearly $10 Billion for Hazard Mitigation, Mostly in Coastal Counties FEMA pre-disaster hazard mitigation assistance funding by program, 2005–24 ($) Source: FEMA, “OpenFEMA Dataset: Hazard Mitigation Assistance Projects – v4”, accessed July 20, 2025, https://www.fema.gov/openfema-data-page/hazard-mitigation-assistance-projects-v4. Notes: BRIC = Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities; FEMA = Federal Emergency Management Agency; FMA = Flood Mitigation Assistance; LPDM = Legislative Pre-Disaster Mitigation program; PDM = Pre-Disaster Mitgation grant program; RFC = Repetitive Flood Claims program; SRL = Severe Repetitive Loss grant program. All dollar amounts are in 2024 dollars. All per capita figures are calculated based on 2023 population estimates. Statewide and other multicounty projects’ funding amounts were attributed to the county level proportionate to county populations.
August 13, 2025 at 4:13 PM
mitchellthorson.com
This week, @urbaninstitute.bsky.social launched the Education-to-Workforce Framework data tool.

This was one of the more complex @svelte.dev apps we've built, and @benkates.com led the way on development and made something really cool with this one.

apps.urban.org/features/edu...
Screenshot of a series of data visualizations. There are three metrics displayed: Share of students in grade 3 who meet grade-level standards in math, and in language arts, as well as the share of students in grade 8 who meet grade-level standards in math. For each metric, there is a line chart showing the trend from 2013 through 2020 for Cook County, Illinois, the state of Illinois, and the U.S. as a nation. A choropleth map showing the share of students in grade 3 who meet grade-level standards in math by county in the mid-Western United States. Cook county Illinois is highlighted.
May 15, 2025 at 12:19 PM
mitchellthorson.com
Had family in town and did some tourist stuff this weekend. Good views of NYC will never get old to me.
A view of New York City looking downtown from the top of Rockefeller Center. The Empire State Building rises prominently in the center of the frame. A view of New York City looking uptown from the top of Rockefeller Center. Central Park stretches out gracefully in the center of the frame. The sun shines on buildings in the Upper East Side.
December 1, 2024 at 4:04 PM
mitchellthorson.com
This is a beautiful and harrowing piece of visual work. It illustrates the journey of microplastics from our daily lives to our ocean ecosystems, and even into the sea floor itself.
A visualization showing the path of microplastics as they travel through the ocean from Singapore to the Indian Garbage Patch.
November 23, 2024 at 3:54 PM
mitchellthorson.com
Introduce yourself with four video games
A screenshot from the video game Dark Souls showing the Sun glowing over the city of Anor Londo A screenshot from the video game Kentucky Route Zero showing the sun setting behind the hills behind a gas station that features a giant horse's head sculpture. The name of the gas station is Equus Oils. A small truck idles with its headlights shining. A screenshot of the video game Inscryption. A pair of eyes glow in the dark across a table. The table is dimly lit by candlelight. On the table is a ongoing card game of some kind. A screenshot from the video game Disco Elysium. The image shows the games two primary characters standing on the balcony of an establishment called "Whirling in Rags".
November 21, 2024 at 3:54 PM
mitchellthorson.com
The @urbaninstitute.bsky.social data viz project template is officially running on @svelte.dev version 5 now. New data tools and features powered by runes coming soon.
A screenshot of a Github diff showing updates to Svelte-related dependencies in a package.json file.
November 18, 2024 at 8:44 PM
mitchellthorson.com
📊 A new data tool from @urbaninstitute.bsky.social shows that millions of Americans would lose their health insurance if the enhanced premium tax credits are allowed to expire at the end of 2025. Explore the tool to see who would be most impacted: www.urban.org/data-tools/h...
A hex map of the United States shows the percent change in individuals who would have health insurance if enhanced PTCs are allowed to expire at the end of 2025 by state.
November 14, 2024 at 4:34 PM
mitchellthorson.com
In Chicago for the @datavizsociety.bsky.social #outlier2024 conference. Say hello if you see me!
A selfie of the author in Lincoln Park in front of the of the Chicago Skyline.
June 11, 2024 at 10:43 PM
mitchellthorson.com
Scenes from a Thursday Night Social Ride.
A photo of cyclists waiting to cross an Avenue in New York City. A photo of a group of cyclists and their bikes riding together in New York City.
May 10, 2024 at 6:17 PM
mitchellthorson.com
New work for Urban Institute: Wealth inequality is higher in the United States than in almost any other developed country and has risen for much of the past 60 years. These nine charts tell the story: apps.urban.org/features/wea...
An area chart that shows the distribution of family wealth in the U.S. in 2022. The x axis shows the percentile in terms of wealth and the y axis shows wealth in USD. There is a sharp increase in the level of wealth concentrated near the upper end of the distribution. A line chart showing average family wealth, disaggregated by race and ethnicity from 1963 to 2022. White families control significantly more wealth than Black and Hispanic families. Asian families have the highest average family wealth in 2022.
April 26, 2024 at 1:50 PM
mitchellthorson.com
Riding the OCA this fine spring day.
Photo of a bike in front of an old wooden structure with a sign that reads “OCA”
April 20, 2024 at 4:17 PM
mitchellthorson.com
New work: I helped make this scrolly explainer on how tax policy can worsen racial inequities for The Urban Institute and Tax Policy Center. I'm really jazzed about the Svelte-powered toolkit my team has been working on to create these types of custom stories: apps.urban.org/features/fed...
A stacked area chart displaying credit amount by income level for the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit. A stacked bar chart showing total expenditures for several tax breaks by race and ethnicity. A stacked bar chart showing share of income by category and race/ethnicity.
February 15, 2024 at 4:59 PM
mitchellthorson.com
Finished 'How Infrastructure Works' by @debcha.bsky.social this week. A great read that illuminates both the challenge and the opportunity inherent in rethinking how our infrastructural systems work, and how they might become systems empowered by the idea of abundance rather than that of scarcity.
A photo of the cover of the book "How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems That Shape Our World" by Deb Chachra
November 26, 2023 at 6:55 PM
mitchellthorson.com
Honored to have the final project I worked on at USA Today with Ramon Padilla and Jeff Zillgitt on the #IIBAwards shortlist. Proud to be in the company of so many amazing visualizations: www.informationisbeautifulawards.com/showcase?act...
September 25, 2023 at 6:52 PM