How to Group States into Regions in Tableau

Creating custom sales regions by grouping states is a perfect way to make your Tableau maps easier to read and analyze. Instead of tracking 50 individual data points, you can get a high-level view of performance across territories like "West Coast," "Midwest," or "Northeast." This article will walk you through three different methods for grouping states into regions, from the quick and simple to the flexible and scalable.

Why Group States into Regions?

Before we jump into the "how," let's quickly cover the "why." Grouping geographic data isn't just about making your map look cleaner, it helps you uncover more meaningful insights. When your data is aggregated into custom regions, you can:

• Simplify Complex Visualizations: A map with four or five color-coded regions is much easier to interpret at a glance than a map with 50 different shades representing each state. It helps your audience see the bigger picture instantly.
• Align with Business Structure: Most companies don't operate on a state-by-state basis. They have sales territories, distribution networks, or marketing areas that span multiple states. Grouping allows you to build dashboards that reflect how your business actually works.
• Enable High-Level Analysis: Comparing the performance of the "Southern Region" versus the "Northeast Region" is often more useful for strategic decisions than comparing Idaho to Rhode Island. It lets you spot trends and allocate resources more effectively.

Imagine you're a national sales manager. Your company divides the US into four key territories. Grouping states allows you to quickly build a dashboard that answers questions like, "Which sales region is generating the most revenue?" or "Is our profit margin higher on the West Coast or in the South?"

Method 1: Using the 'Group' Feature (The Quickest Way)

The fastest way to create geographic groups in Tableau is by using the built-in 'Group' feature. This method is perfect for one-off analyses or when your regions don't change often. You're essentially selecting states on a list and manually putting them into folders.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. In the Data pane on the left side of your worksheet, find your geographic dimension (e.g., 'State' or 'Province').
2. Right-click on the 'State' dimension and select Create > Group...
3. A new window will open. First, give your group field a name. Let's call it "Sales Regions". This will be the name of the new dimension that appears in your Data pane.
4. You'll see a list of all the states in your dimension. To create your first region, select all the states that belong to it. You can hold down the Ctrl key (or Cmd on Mac) to select multiple states one by one.
5. Once you've selected all the states for a region (e.g., California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona), click the Group button. Tableau will bundle them together and you can rename the group. Double-click "Group 1" and rename it to something meaningful, like "West".
6. Repeat the process for your other regions. Select all the states for your next region (e.g., "Midwest"), click Group, and rename the new group accordingly. Continue until all states are assigned.
7. Click OK. You'll now see a new dimension in your Data pane called "Sales Regions (group)" ready to use in your visualizations.

To use it, just drag your new "Sales Regions" field onto the Color shelf on the Marks card after you've created a map. Tableau will automatically color your map based on the groups you just defined.

A quick tip on the "Include 'Other'" option:

You might notice a checkbox for "Include 'Other'". If you check this box, any states you don't assign to a group will be automatically lumped together into a single category called "Other." This can be handy for quickly isolating your main territories, but if you want to ensure every state is accounted for, it's better to group them manually.

Method 2: Using a Calculated Field (The Flexible Way)

While the grouping feature is fast, it can be tedious if you have a lot of members to group or if you need to edit the groups later. A more flexible and robust method is to define your regions using a calculated field. This gives you a clear formula that's easy to copy, edit, and understand.

For this task, the CASE statement is your best friend. It’s an efficient way to assign a category based on a specific value.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. From the top menu, go to Analysis > Create Calculated Field...
2. Give your calculated field a name, like "Custom Region (Calc)".
3. In the formula box, you'll write a CASE statement. The logic is simple: read the "State" field, and "WHEN" it's a certain state, "THEN" assign it a region name.

Here’s an example formula you can adapt:

CASE [State]
WHEN "California" THEN "West"
WHEN "Oregon" THEN "West"
WHEN "Washington" THEN "West"
WHEN "Arizona" THEN "West"
WHEN "Nevada" THEN "West"

WHEN "Illinois" THEN "Midwest"
WHEN "Ohio" THEN "Midwest"
WHEN "Michigan" THEN "Midwest"
WHEN "Wisconsin" THEN "Midwest"
WHEN "Indiana" THEN "Midwest"

WHEN "New York" THEN "Northeast"
WHEN "Massachusetts" THEN "Northeast"
WHEN "Pennsylvania" THEN "Northeast"
WHEN "New Jersey" THEN "Northeast"

WHEN "Texas" THEN "South"
WHEN "Florida" THEN "South"
WHEN "Georgia" THEN "South"
WHEN "North Carolina" THEN "South"

END

Simply copy, paste, and edit this code to match your own state and region definitions. When you're done, the calculation will be valid. Click OK. Voila! A new dimension called "Custom Region (Calc)" appears in your Data Pane. Use it just like any other field.

Why use a Calculated Field?

• More Transparent: Anyone can open the calculated field to see exactly how regions are defined.
• More Maintainable: Updating is easy. When a territory needs to change, you just edit a few lines of code instead of finding a state on a list.
• Portable: You can easily copy and paste the calculation into other workbooks.

Method 3: Using a Secondary Data Source (The Scalable Way)

If your team is constantly changing sales territories, editing a calculated field may become unwieldy. The most sophisticated and scalable approach is to manage your region definitions in a separate file, like a spreadsheet, and join it to your Tableau data. This separates your data logic from your visualization tool. It keeps your Tableau workbook clean and ensures everyone in your organization is using the same, centrally managed territory list.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. First, create a simple mapping file in Excel or Google Sheets. This should have two columns: State and Region. List out all your states in the first column and their corresponding region in the second.
2. Save this file.
3. In your Tableau workbook, go to the Data Source tab in the bottom-left. This is where you manage your data connections.
4. Under Connections, click Add. Navigate to your Excel file or connect to your Google Sheet and add it as a new data source.
5. Now, Tableau will show your primary data as well as your region mapping sheet on the canvas. Drag your region mapping sheet to anywhere above or below your original data file. Tableau will likely see that both your sheets have a field named State and will automatically create a relationship, establishing a link between them.

Once the relationship is set up, all the fields from your region file are available as part of your main dataset. You now have a "Region" dimension in the Data pane that you can use as you would any other field.

Visualizing Your New Regions

Regardless of which method you choose, visualizing your groups is easy:

• Publish your "State" field (e.g., on a map) to ensure that Tableau recognizes it as a map.
• Drag your new region field ("Sales Regions (group)," "Custom Region (Calc)," or "Region") to the Color shelf on the Marks card. Tableau will instantly color the states according to your grouping.
• If you also want to show performance metrics (e.g., sales or profit), drag a measure (e.g., "Sales") to the Color shelf (you can add multiple fields to one shelf). Tableau will then adjust color palettes to show variations within those regions, so you can quickly see which region has the highest sales.
• Finally, you can arrange your regions as a list on the state tooltip to enhance user experience. Drag and drop the "Region" field in the tooltip and remove the stated fields in the tooltip, replacing them with the region name and other sales performance metrics within your regions.

Final Thoughts

Grouping states into regions in Tableau is an excellent technique for transforming raw data into insightful artwork. Whether you need a fast solution with the 'Group' feature, a flexible calculated field, or a scalable secondary data source, Tableau offers a method suitable for any business need and map. While it might be intimidating at first, with practice, you can confidently use Tableau and any method to turn complex statistics into understandable and attractive visuals. If you're interested in ensuring that the work is as easily accessible and visually intriguing as possible, don’t hesitate to utilize these suggestions and implement them systematically. Happy mapping and creating stunning visual analytics!