Changes

This page lists what readers can see change: chapters opened, chapters revised, and corrections. Each entry gives the date and the chapter, and a correction is stated as a correction. A chapter that changes after it opens also shows an updated date in its byline.

Stepped figures, social images and a page for programs, October 2026

Six essays now open on a stepped figure: the chart stays in view while the paragraphs beside it scroll and switch what it shows. They are Chapter 2.4, Where births are falling, Chapter 4.1, College access, price and earnings, Chapter 7.2, Health behaviors, person by person, Chapter 8.2, Overdose, alcohol and suicide, Chapter 8.3, Mortality trends, 2018 to 2024 and Chapter 10.3, Suppressed counties in death data. On a narrow screen, with reduced motion or without JavaScript, the figure draws once and the paragraphs follow it. Each written chapter has its own image for links shared on social media, with its title and summary. A new page for programs describes the reports, their sections and the machine-readable copies of each chapter's data. No estimate, figure or source changed.

Two forms of every chapter, October 2026

Every written chapter now has a report beside it at its address followed by /report: the principal estimates, the chapter's findings with each figure as a table, every figure's values, every estimate with its interval and sample size, definitions, methods, limits, references and the files each chapter was built from. The same report is available as Markdown, and the facts and figure values as JSON, for programs that read the book (see /llms.txt). The introduction and every written chapter now open on a shorter essay, written from the same facts and figures around three or four charts and checked sentence by sentence against the report. A toggle under the title switches between essay and report. No estimate, figure or source changed.

Shorter openings and deks, October 2026

Every chapter, the introduction, the start page and the ten part prefaces were revised for reading. Each chapter now opens with its principal comparison, and the alternative estimates, coverage counts and checks that crowded the first paragraphs move to the sections that discuss them. Paragraphs that listed many estimates are split so that each sentence carries one comparison, long headings are shortened, and each chapter's summary under its title states one finding. Part prefaces name each written chapter's finding and the questions the planned chapters will take up. The revision is editorial: no estimate, interval, figure or source changed, and every number printed before is still printed.

Reading marks, October 2026

Numbers drawn from the data files and glossary terms now carry a light grey underline that turns teal when the pointer or keyboard focus reaches them; before, every number carried a teal underline. Cards and links on the start page, part pages and the pager show a grey ground on hover. No text, number or chart changed.

First edition

The first edition of this book was a set of standalone web pages. This edition rebuilds every chapter from the underlying data files, so a number here can differ from the same number in the first edition. Each chapter's notes record the numbers that moved and why.

28 October 2026

• Home value, income and redliningChapter 5.2, updated
• How far one ranking goesChapter 9.1, opened as a draft
• Eight types of neighborhoodChapter 9.2, updated
• Places that beat the modelChapter 9.3, updated
• What moving can changeChapter 9.6, opened as a draft

11 October 2026

• Place across an American lifeIntroduction, published
• Place and the length of a lifeChapter 8.4, updated

9 October 2026

• What the deprivation index measuresChapter 1.1, published
• What a county average leaves outChapter 1.2, published
• Birthweight and preterm birthChapter 2.1, published
• Infant mortalityChapter 2.2, published
• Smoking in pregnancyChapter 2.3, published
• Where births are fallingChapter 2.4, published
• Test scores, class and raceChapter 3.1, published
• Gender gaps in reading and mathChapter 3.2, published
• School discipline and incarcerationChapter 3.4, published
• College access, price and earningsChapter 4.1, published
• Teen birthsChapter 4.2, published
• Race, income and mobilityChapter 4.3, published
• Mental distress in young adultsChapter 4.5, published
• Work, wages and access to jobsChapter 5.1, published
• Home value, income and redliningChapter 5.2, published
• Mortgage denialsChapter 5.3, published
• Renting, affordability and evictionChapter 5.4, published
• Air pollutionChapter 6.1, published
• Civic life, loneliness and partnershipChapter 6.2, published
• Life evaluation and daily feelingsChapter 6.3, published
• Well-being across the life spanChapter 6.4, published
• Health behaviors and the supply of careChapter 7.1, published
• Health behaviors, person by personChapter 7.2, published
• Multiple chronic conditionsChapter 7.3, published
• Disability, retirement and MedicareChapter 7.4, published
• Gun homicide and the causes of early deathChapter 8.1, published
• Overdose, alcohol and suicideChapter 8.2, published
• Mortality trends, 2018 to 2024Chapter 8.3, published
• Place and the length of a lifeChapter 8.4, published
• Violence and the life-expectancy gapChapter 8.5, published
• Eight types of neighborhoodChapter 9.2, published
• Places that beat the modelChapter 9.3, published
• Gradients, slopes and varianceChapter 10.1, published
• Families of placesChapter 10.2, published
• Suppressed counties in death dataChapter 10.3, published