1984 InfoWorld Personal Computer Sales Map of the United States

This is a 1984 InfoWorld personal computer sales map of the United States. The map depicts the region from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean and from Canada to Mexico. Personal computer sales are separated into groups based on the total value of computers installed in metro sales areas. Counties are illustrated throughout the country and are used as a rubric upon which to overlay the sales data. Some of the sales areas are metro areas, such as New York City and Washington, D.C. which are made up of several different counties. Others, like Colorado Springs, Colorado, or Spokane, Washington, occupy a single county. The top 150 sales areas are shown, and five different colors are used to differentiate between the groups, with the top ten sales areas highlighted in red, and others shaded dark blue, light blue, dark green, and light green. Thus, if we use New York City, the top 'metropolitan statistical area' in the country, as an example, the five counties that make up the city (New York, Bronx, Kings, Queens, and Richmond) are shaded red, while the 150th, the Peoria, Illinois metro area (Peoria and Tazewell Counties) is shaded light green. A key explaining the different colors is situated in the lower right corner, while an explanation of the map and a list of the top 150 markets is situated below the map along the bottom border.

Publication History and Census

This map was created by the American Map Corporation and published by InfoWorld Magazine in 1984. We have been able to locate one other known example of this map that was published by the International Data Corporation, the parent company of InfoWorld, in the David Rumsey Map Collection at Stanford University.