Because Baghdad, Iraq’s U.S. equivalent would be, more or less, Augusta, Georgia. Because Boston, Massachusetts shares a latitude with one of the northern-most points in Turkmenistan, right up near the border with Uzbekistan. And because Because Fort Collins, Colorado is ~1.3 degrees south of Rome, Italy. In fact, if the United States were moved back east at the same latitude, 64% of the country’s continental surface and 80% of its population would live south of Rome!U.S. perception of its place relative to world geography is notoriously weak, so we thought it might be useful, even shocking sometimes, to discover where your house would be if it were in Europe instead of the climatically-diverse expanse of the lower 48.

Other notable correspondences:

• New York City – Kizyl-Kaya, Turkmenistan
• Washington, DC – south end of the Caspian Sea
• Chicago – east end of the Black Sea, north of Samsun, Turkey
• St. Louis – just North of Seville or Athens
• San Francisco – Lisboa, Portugal