The One Minute Geographer: The Triplets: Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont

Satellite image of northeastern forests (technically, ‘aboveground woody biomass’). This is a cropped enlargement from the full map of the US by Robert Simmon on earthobservatory.nasa.gov

The three states of northern New England are quite alike on many measures of geography and demography. And, believe it or not, they are also quite a bit like West Virginia. (Quadruplets?)

When I mention rankings among the 50 states, keep in mind that what state is 1, 2 or 3 may mean a difference of a decimal. States change rankings from…