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Category: By the Numbers

  • By the Numbers: Pumping Water in the U.S.

    40.5 million Acres of lawns in the United States. 90 million Pounds of herbicides and pesticides used on lawns annually. $30 billion Estimated amount Americans spend on lawn care annually. 50 Percent reduction in nitrogen needed on a lawn if clippings are left to decompose rather than raked. 10 to 1 Amount of pesticide use […]

  • By the Numbers: Earth Day

    Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson founded Earth Day as a way to bring environmental issues to a national stage and infuse them with the same energy as the student-led antiwar movement. The first Earth Day was held April 22, 1970, with 20 million Americans participating in what Nelson called a “national teach-in on the environment.” Today […]

  • By the Numbers: Libraries

      In honor of National Library Week, April 10-16, we look at some library numbers.   252 Number of U.S. Armed Forces libraries.   934 Number of government libraries.   3,793 The number of U.S. academic libraries (1,304 are less than four-year institutions and 2,489 are four-year institutions and above).   6,966 The number of […]

  • By the Numbers: Frogs

    April is National Frog Month. Like a canary in a coal mine, frogs are considered bio-indicators, meaning they can be used to determine the state of health of freshwater habitats. Changes in the abundance and diversity of these amphibians can be used as a measuring tool to determine environmental quality. Did you know that a […]

  • By the Numbers: April Fool’s

    26 Percentage of survey respondents who think changing the time on clocks is the best April Fool’s prank. A close second at 22 percent was gluing a quarter to the ground. 31 Percentage of respondents who wish Justin Bieber’s movie Never Say Never was just an April Fool’s joke. 32 Percentage of respondents who say […]

  • By the Numbers: March Madness

      0 Cost of entry to the three-day March Madness Music Festival to be held in Houston April 1-3, featuring Maroon 5.   1.2 Percentage of college basketball players who are drafted by an NBA team.   75 Percentage of college basketball players who believe they will play professional basketball.   50 The percentage increase […]

  • By the Numbers: Easter

    15 Percentage of population that plans to go to a restaurant for Easter dinner.   23.8 Percentage of Americans who plan to do their Easter shopping at a local business.   50.8 The percentage of Americans who will attend a church service on Easter Sunday.   89 Percentage of chocolate bunny eaters who eat the […]

  • By the Numbers: Irish in America

      In addition to St. Patrick’s Day on March 17, the entire month is dedicated to Irish-Americans. Here are a few numbers regarding that segment of the population.   7 Number of places named Shamrock in the U.S.   16 Number of places in the U.S. that share the name of Ireland’s capital, Dublin.   […]

  • By the Numbers: Women-Friendly States

    With March being Women’s History Month and women outnumbering men in all but nine states today, the personal finance website WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis of 2016’s Best and Worst States for Women. The analysis found that overall, Wisconsin is the eighth most women-friendly state in the nation. To identify the most women-friendly states, WalletHub’s […]

  • By the Numbers: Leap Year

    1/10th of 1 percent The percentage of the population born on leap day (Feb. 29). 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45 seconds The amount the calendar would be off each year without adding a day to February in leap years. In 100 years without leap years, seasons would be off by 25 days. 29 The day […]

  • By the Numbers: U.S. Slave History

      Compiled by Jim Lundstrom   In honor of Black History Month, we take a look at this nation’s terrible slave history.   26 Percentage of children among the human cargo of a slave ship. As many as 13 percent of them did not survive the voyage.   31 The percentage of all slaves in […]

  • By the Numbers: Valentine’s Day

      20 Percentage increase in new Match.com profiles the week after Valentine’s Day.   23 Percent of American adults who say they purchase plants or flowers on Valentine’s Day; 61 percent of them are men and 39 percent are women.   53 Percentage of women who say they would break up with their significant other […]

  • By the Numbers: PenArt’s SOUP!

    Ten years ago, Peninsula School of Art hosted its first annual SOUP! event, a community-wide effort bringing local children and adults together to create and decorate bowls to be sold for the benefit of local charities and the art school’s free children’s outreach programs. This year’s SOUP! event, “Cheers to 10 Years,” is scheduled for […]

  • By the Numbers: 2015 Weather

      With the recent report that 2015 was the warmest year on Earth since modern record keeping began, we take a look at some of the weather numbers for last year.   2 2015 was the second warmest of the 121 years on record in the continental U.S.; 2012 was the warmest.   10 The […]

  • By the Numbers: Racial Integration

    In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream of a colorblind society, WalletHub analysts looked at the state of racial progress in the 50 states. They examined 10 key indicators of such progress, ranging from median annual income to homeownership rates to voter turnout. Here are some of their findings.   13 Percentage of Americans […]

  • By the Numbers: Guns

      31 Percentage of U.S. households that keep guns.   60 Percentage of gun owners who say personal safety is the reason they own a gun.   33,599 Number of U.S. gun deaths (2014); 10,945 of those were ruled homicides.   129,817 Number of federally licensed firearms dealers in the U.S. (for a comparison, there […]

  • By the Numbers: Affordable Care Act

    2.9 Average increase in marketplace premiums from 2014 to 2015.   10 Percentage of non-elderly adults in the U.S. who remain uninsured.   41 Percentage of silver plans that have narrow provider networks.   5.7 million The number of people who will be uninsured in 2016 because 20 states (including Wisconsin) are not expanding Medicaid. […]

  • By the Numbers: Governmental Salaries

    $50,950 Annual Wisconsin legislator’s salary   $68,566 Wisconsin Secretary of state’s salary   $76,261 Lt. Governor’s salary   $144,423 Governor’s salary   $146,000 Wisconsin Associate justices’ salary   $154,000 Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice’s salary   $174,000 Salary for U.S. Congressional rank-and-file members   $193,400 Salary for majority and minority party leaders   $223,500 Speaker […]

  • By the Numbers: Generosity in Wisconsin

    The social media company Wallet Hub took a look at charitable giving in the United States and found Wisconsin fairly high in many areas of giving, yet it ranked 41st in giving among the 50 states. Utah was ranked as the most giving state, followed by Maryland, Idaho, Oregon and South Dakota. States ranking worse […]

  • By The Numbers: The Great Lakes

      In honor of the Great Lakes Compact ratification on Dec. 8, 2008, here are some Great Lakes facts to consider.   20 Percentage of the Earth’s fresh water found in the Great Lakes.   1615 The year the first European explorer is believed to have reached the Great Lakes (Huron and Ontario). That is […]