The Subway Above Ground

Income inequality is a defining characteristic of New York City, but it is easy to be unaware of it. Many New Yorkers use the subway to get around, rendering the above ground conditions of the places we travel through largely invisible.

This 3D map makes income inequality visible along the NYC Subway by literally making the subway lines rise above ground: the higher the household income of the area the train is passing through, the higher the line rises. The result is a warped subway map that resembles a roller coaster amusement park, exposing the dramatic differences of income in the city. Select a line to see more details:

Drag cursor on map to rotate. Pinch or scroll to zoom. Right-click or use two fingers to pan.

Select a station below to zoom view it on the map.

Created by Brian Foo using Median household income by census tract, 2017 ACS 5-year estimates (B19013) and MTA subway station data. Code is open source. This piece is part of the 2021 Data Through Design: Ground Truth Exhibition. You can also visit this piece's sister project that turns this same data into music.