Madison Knows How to March

Madison Knows How to March: Size of Women's Marches Compared to City Population

1/22/2017

On Friday, Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States before a crowd of about a quarter of a million people gathered on the National Mall.

The following day, half a million people took to the street's in our nation's capital for the #WomensMarch in order to "stand together in solidarity with our partners and children for the protection of our rights, our safety, our health, and our families - recognizing that our vibrant and diverse communities are the strength of our country."

Along with the central march in Washington, DC, there were another 2.5 million people participating in 600 sister marches world wide.

The largest marches were in Los Angeles (750k), Washington, DC (500k), New York (400k) and Chicago (250k). It is not surprising the biggest crowds were in the three most populous cities and our nation's capital.

The top ten largest marches* were:
Los Angeles, CA: 750,000
Washington, DC: 500,000
New York, NY: 400,000
Boston, MA: 100,000
Chicago, IL: 250,000
Denver, CO: 100,000
Madison, WI: 100,000
Portland, OR: 100,000
Seattle, WA: 100,000
St. Paul, MN: 90,000

BUT, when we look at the size of the march compared to the city population, rather than the raw numbers by city, things get interesting.

Washington, DC comes out on top, with number of participants equivalent to 75% of their population. [Before we move forward, let's break that down: Washington, DC has a population of 659,000 people. They had 500,000 marchers. So the percentage of marchers, as compared to the city's population, was 500,000/659,000 = 75.87%.] But many people traveled from all over the country to participate in the central march.

Second to DC, the clear winner of marchers by city population was Madison, WI with over 40% turnout!!!

When rearranged for turnout ratio, the top marching cities are now as follows:
Washington, DC: 75.87%
Madison, WI: 41.15%
St. Paul, MN: 30.51%
Los Angeles, CA: 19.23%
Portland, OR: 16.42%
Boston, MA: 15.5%
Denver, CO: 15.38%
Seattle, WA: 15.34%
Chicago, IL: 9.26%
New York, NY: 4.76%

Great work Madison, Wisconsin. Way to represent your values.
Check out some of the great social content from the day at #WomensMarchMadison.

*March sizes sourced from The Hill.
Population size is based on city limits and sourced from the Google Knowledge Graph.

This awesome infographic was created by iCandy-Graphics and Web Design. Follow them on Twitter @iCandyGraphics1.

40 Comments

Cecilia Miranda

1/23/2017 12:30:32 am

Glad to have marched with the women in my family....particularly with my daughter. As a legal immigrant not by choice as I was brought here at an early age I'm fortunate to have the freedom to voice my opinion and to speak for those that can't...America's is great and will continue to be great so long our new president respectfully Mr. Trump hears my voice..hears the people as he is to serve the people of this great nation.

Josh Klemons

1/23/2017 08:54:05 am

Thank you for sharing! I couldn't agree more.

Rebecca

1/23/2017 01:15:39 am

As a woman, I am embarrassed to see my fellow women sink to lower levels. Marching is not going to have any effect. Trump is still going to be president. If you really wanted to make an impact, you might as well carry guns and really shake the whole place up. I am embarrassed by some of the speeches given, especially Madonna. It never ceases to amaze me how many times that woman contradicts herself. If most of us said anything like her to anyone, we would have already been put down and arrested. Besides, woman's right issues didn't start with Trump, so why has this just started? Clinton and Obama sure didn't solve those rights, so why didn't you all protest then as well when they were elected? Stop complaining, and go to work. Your nonsense and whining will never get you out of square one.

1/23/2017 02:21:22 am

You ask "why has this just started?" Firstly this did not "just start". Look back at the decades (and more) before us. Rights for women and minirities have always been an ongoing battle, and this will likely continue for the foreseeable future.

For me the real clincher here is that the new president admits and condones the mistreatment and molestation of women. How can you as a woman not be enraged by these things, let alone his numerous other atrocious comments and actions.

How can you say that a woman standing up for herself in not wanting to be molested, and to have access to affordable healthcare to keep her body strong and healthy, is an embarrassment?? 1/4 of women on major university campuses are raped and/or molested (at least those were the stats when I was there, though I'm certain it is worse now). I and several friends are among them. Together we have attended walks, speeches, and various other events in support of women regularly - for decades. And for some these have been lifesaving measures.

Our actions are far from whining, and in fact build a stronger and more responsive community, even if you can't/won't take notice.

Lastly, in response to you (and many others with similar comments this weekend): Yes, I am a woman. Yes, I voted in the primary and general elections. Yes, I have voted in every election since I've been eligible. Yes, I work (hours equivalent of 2-3 full time jobs - I'm a doctor). Yes, this weekend I made time to march alongside my courageous alies. And YES, TOGETHER WE WOMEN HAVE ALREADY CHANGED LIVES.
*women* *survivors* *heroes*

Josh Klemons

1/23/2017 08:55:51 am

Powerful words L! Thank you for sharing.

Kathy

1/23/2017 08:25:42 am

Must agree with Rebecca. Seems more like I hate the President march

Josh Klemons

1/23/2017 08:59:43 am

Totally okay to have different opinions, I appreciate hearing them all. I feel that the march wasn't about "hating" the president, but about letting the president know that Trump's well-stated views on women will not be tolerated in our nation's legislation.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/18-real-things-donald-trump-has-said-about-women_us_55d356a8e4b07addcb442023

Queen

1/23/2017 10:46:16 am

Oh Rebecca, you don't have to worry. The march was just the start of it. Trust me, we are getting to work! ACTIVATE!

Teresa

1/23/2017 09:47:57 pm

Yes! This was a battle cry for us to come together for each other. I know from W. Bush and Scott Walker that conservatives don't give a darn about protests, but we know we are all here and ready to fight for what's right! This was just a little world-wide meeting to get started.

Chris Rose

1/23/2017 01:14:39 pm

Rather than ask "Why has this just started" perhaps the better question, and one you should ask yourself, is "why have I just stopped?" For some women the job isn't done; why do you feel it's done for you?

DJ link

1/23/2017 01:20:37 pm

You said: Marching is not going to have any effect.
Really? try reviewing history. How did women get the right to vote? How did civil rights get passed? How did we finally get out of Nam? People marching. duh

Toby K link

3/30/2018 07:33:27 am

It's been a year and yes I agree with you. You got good point there. No matter who the president is, how we live still depends on ourselves.

L JANKE

1/23/2017 07:23:39 am

We're gonna go blue! Called Ryan, his mail box was full! I'll call back.

Josh Klemons

1/23/2017 08:56:48 am

Were you calling his WI or his DC number? Try both. Sometimes one mailbox is full while the other can accept new messages.

KAREN

1/23/2017 02:10:49 pm

Usually all of his voicemails at all of his offices are full. Disgraceful for a public servant!

Phyllis

1/23/2017 09:20:41 am

I have voted in every election since I became eligible way back when! I work two jobs -- one full-time. I am proud that Madison WI was my march location! It was energizing and brought back some hopefulness to me as I despair of the tone and approach by our new President. I was particularly encouraged by speeches I heard from "unknowns" -- local residents of Madison who spoke eloquenty of their struggles as a person of color, as a transitioning person, as a schoolteacher helping her students learn democracy. Wow! They were phenomenal and I wish I had a recording of all their remarks.

Josh Klemons

1/23/2017 09:23:36 am

Don't know of any recordings of the day. But you can certainly relive it as much as you want via social media. #WomensMarchMadison on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram is full of photos, stories and videos from the day!

Rebecca (not the one who thought we were foolish)

1/23/2017 09:36:49 am

One thing to think about in the pecentage for Madison is that there was no march in Milwaukee, so many people drove over (including me - there were 6 in our car alone, including 2 teenagers, and there were busloads of people from M'ee). This is actually a little disconcerting to me. I realize that Madison is the 'radical town' (I grew up in radical Eugene, so I get it) and it's the state house, but imagine the size of crowd we might have had - and the difference in the racial mix - if it had been in Milwaukee. SO many people could not make the trip to Madison who could have taken a bus downtown.
and to that Rebecca - I am in my mid-50s and have voted in *every* election since I was 18 and protested at some point in every city/state I've lived in (a total of 8). I would guess that the vast majority of the people at these rallies are the same. Remember that Trump actually *lost* the popular vote by nearly 3,000,000 votes.

Josh Klemons

1/23/2017 09:56:49 am

Thanks for the awesome comment Rebecca!

Although it was pretty small, it looks like there was a Women's March in Milwaukee: http://www.cbs58.com/story/34314179/hundreds-hit-the-streets-of-milwaukee-for-womens-march-on-washington

Awesome you made it to Madison though. Next time, we'll have to make sure that we have awesome marches in both Madison AND Milwaukee.

Rebecca L

1/23/2017 10:36:45 am

Yes, there was a neighborhood FemmeFest march in Riverwest, which was very diverse from the few photos I've seen so far. I'd have gone there if I'd not been able to arrange to get to Madison. I'd just like for the biggest & most diverse city in the state to be the epicenter of this so as many people as possible can attend.

Kathy

1/23/2017 04:24:17 pm

Correct. Was only aware of the anti Trump rally Fri eve in Milwaukee. The Sat component in Milwaukee was not well shared and I couldn't go to DC.

OrangeDeb

1/23/2017 06:38:16 pm

Yep, good points. I would have travelled to Milwaukee, though I really like Madison. Is next month too soon?

MadisonSKS

1/23/2017 09:47:02 am

Please stop spreading this - it falls in the "acceptable truth" category because marchers in all cities included marchers from other towns and states. It's truly amazing and wonderful how many people marched all over the world - we need to be really careful to tell the truth about it so we don't open ourselves up to attacks.

On a lighter note, what action are you taking today to "march on"?

Josh Klemons

1/23/2017 10:01:07 am

People traveled to every one of these marches from the surrounding areas (and some from much further). There was no way to measure this, but we used the same metric for every city (stated population). So I think it makes sense to compare city marches accordingly.

Samantha Simeone

1/23/2017 09:49:27 am

These are just goofy statistics if you equate the number of marchers with the population of the cities...the absolute majority of marchers in DC are NOT FROM DC, just as so many marchers in every other city are not from that city, but from surrounding suburbs, rural areas, and even other states.

If you want to lie with statistics, this sure did the job.

Josh Klemons

1/23/2017 09:59:02 am

We used the same metric for every city. We clarified that many people traveled to DC. We cited out sources for all of it. You might have approached it differently, but I'm not sure it's fair to say we "lie[d] with statistics."

ChazMikell

1/23/2017 01:08:00 pm

No lie here. If you read the heading is states that it is a comparison of the crowd size to the population of the city. There is no statement that the whole crowd originated completely from that city. Why would it need to? If anything, in respect to the Madison numbers, it indicates that "reality" could be shrinking.

Jimmy Lohman

1/23/2017 10:08:21 am

Tallahassee with a 2016 population of 190,000 had a march with 15,000 or 7.89%.

Also need to take into account the population of surrounding area which in case of Tallahassee is very small.

Josh Klemons

1/23/2017 10:20:53 am

Thanks for the note!

I read about one march in a town of 900 where 600 people showed up. That would put them at 67%!

We limited our numbers initially to the top 20 marches, and then found that was still too many for one graphic and went with just the top 10. It wasn't meant to exclude others, just to give some context for some of the larger ones.

As per people traveling, we used actual city population as our metric, knowing that folks would be traveling to every one of those cities from surrounding areas (or even further). Was the best way we could think of to measure evenly.

Bridget

1/23/2017 11:13:51 am

I was thrilled that there was a rally in Antarctica! I would be interested in what the percentage attendance was there, given the low likelyhood that anyone travelled there just for the rally.

Josh Klemons

1/23/2017 11:39:21 am

Haha, great question! It looks like they had about 30 people marching... plus penguins!

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/01/21/womens-march-on-washington-antarctica/96882184/

Not sure about percentage, but they definitely earned title of most interesting location.

Gay Eastman

1/23/2017 11:45:51 am

While I did see many of my Madison neighbors and other friends at Saturday's march, I'm sure that not 1 out of every 3 Madisonians was there. And more importantly, I think it's critical to emphasize how many women, men and whole families (many with multiple generations) traveled from all over the state to take part. It was truly a Wisconsin march. This matters because Ron Johnson & Tammy Baldwin & Paul Ryan & all of the state's congressional reps need to remember that the 2016 election was not a mandate from the state of Wisconsin for Trump and the Republican platform. Half of our electorate, well represented by those on Saturday, reject the politics of hate & fear. On Saturday they demonstrated their commitment to fight fiercely for the things that will allow ALL Wisconsinites to thrive.

Josh Klemons

1/23/2017 12:15:16 pm

Gay, thanks for writing!

We know that people traveled to every one of these marches from the surrounding areas (and some from much further). There was no way to measure this, but we used the same metric for every city (stated population). So I think it makes sense to compare city marches accordingly.

That being said, I think you add some interesting analysis and I appreciate you sharing.

Margie

1/23/2017 12:01:50 pm

I will remember 1/21/2017 as an amazing day when America "woke up" to a new awareness of the importance of being involved in our political system.
For everyone's sake I hope it continues. This is only the beginning of a long road to preserve the Constitution and individual rights.
I discovered an amazing journalist on YouTube -- Masha Gessen. She's a Russian/American journalist, author, translator & activist. I recommend listening to her impression of what is happening with Trump and the political changes he grew out of. It is insightful, yet alarming. We need to stay aware and avoid "normalizing" this. This will be a long-term project.
Regarding the discussion of statistics for the Women's March... I did have concerns about using % of city population since so many traveled hours to get to certain march sites. It would take a lot of work (and don't know if it's even feasible) to add all the small marches with the larger cities and do a "state %". It would be less controversial.
Thanks to all who helped in anyway to make 1/21/17 happen!

Josh Klemons

1/23/2017 12:17:17 pm

Margie,
Thanks for the note. It was quite a day!

As per using percentages, we know that people traveled to every one of these marches from the surrounding areas (and some from much further). There was no way to measure this, but we used the same metric for every city (stated population). So I think it makes sense to compare city marches accordingly.

We also limited it to top 10 marches by turnout, simply for the sake of space. We didn't think we could have fit 600 cites onto the map!

Polly Cisco

1/23/2017 02:36:59 pm

This was not a "moment" this is a MOVEMENT!

Will

1/23/2017 04:46:56 pm

I was at the march in Madison, it was quite a spectacle. One gripe about the article, "the clear winner of marchers by city population was Madison, WI with over 40% turnout!!!" is a misleading statement for the reason pointed out by several others here, namely not all the marchers were from the city where the march occurred. Thus you can't say 40% of the city turned out.

Also, why not compare the march turnouts to the metro area populations? Those numbers are readily available on wikipedia and would seem to be a better indication of the number of people with easy access to the march site. I'll bet that would even out some of the numbers, for example St. Paul would drop considerably if Minneapolis was included in the total population number.

Sue

1/24/2017 10:37:32 am

Indeed. I did the math for the Twin Cities metro area, and it's between 2.5 and 3%. Surely marches in state capitols had disproportionate participation. So while these stats warmed my heart at first glance, I think it's more meaningful to celebrate the total numbers nation-wide.

Jim Harkness

1/25/2017 01:58:05 pm

As a Badger I am proud, but as a Minneapolitan I can't help but notice that you used the highest reported estimate for Madison's crowd size and the lowest for Minneapolis.

Josh Klemons

1/25/2017 02:30:47 pm

As stated in the post, we pulled all march size data from one source, an article in The Hill. http://thehill.com/homenews/news/315506-womens-marches-draw-estimated-25-million-across-country According to the article, Minneapolis was not amongst the largest marches. St. Paul was. For all cities with turnout listed as a range, we took the larger number.

Madison Knows How to March: Size of Women's Marches Compared to City Population

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