Does anyone have advice for learning what the communities of interest in a state are?

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

?

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

Three things you could look at are the states micropolitan/metropolitan areas as defined by the statistic, but this would require you looking them up out side of DRA

Another is racial make up, but be wary that in the most minority areas like NYC, the Deep South, Hawai'i it falls apart as minorities are ubiqutious.

My most used when trying to redistrict on the fly is looking at road connections. For example Georgetown/Myrtle Beach may seem like they could go naturally with Charleston there is only one bridge connecting them, where are there are many roadways that connect Horry and Georgetown with Dillon, Marion, and Williamsburg.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Three things you could look at are the states micropolitan/metropolitan areas as defined by the statistic, but this would require you looking them up out side of DRA

Also the way the Census counts the entire county in the area means that it's not always very reflective. What I mostly try to do is just minimize county and city splits, although with really weird shaped urban cities (look at Columbus, OH or Fort Worth, TX) or suburban areas with boundaries that don't really make sense (way too many to count) these can be ignored.

[ProgressiveModerate]

In a lot of cities especially, COIs will mirror sharp political divides. NYC is a prime example of this.

[Del Tachi]

In a lot of cities especially, COIs will mirror sharp political divides. NYC is a prime example of this.

What do you mean by "political divides?"  Simply looking at the D/R margin is not going to give you a lot of insight into the politics of most neighborhoods in NYC or Chicago, simply because they're so overwhelmingly Democrat.  Big city politics tends to hinge on more nuanced divides around things like race, ethnicity, language, sexuality, class, etc. 

There's no way to answer this question because concepts of community are subjective.  Ask two people who live on the same block what constitutes their geographic "community", and they will possibly give you two very different answers.  They'd both be correct.   

[Хahar 🤔]

In a lot of cities especially, COIs will mirror sharp political divides. NYC is a prime example of this.

As is often the case, New York City is a poor example because it is unlike other American cities. Most American cities do not have Republican areas: there is not a single Republican precinct with more than ten votes in Boston or St. Louis or Minneapolis or Seattle. In the whole city of Los Angeles in 2020 there were exactly two.

[ProgressiveModerate]

In a lot of cities especially, COIs will mirror sharp political divides. NYC is a prime example of this.

As is often the case, New York City is a poor example because it is unlike other American cities. Most American cities do not have Republican areas: there is not a single Republican precinct with more than ten votes in Boston or St. Louis or Minneapolis or Seattle. In the whole city of Los Angeles in 2020 there were exactly two.

Fair, but in cities like MSP and Seattle, you can see a really stark dropoff in D% between the precincts at the edge of the city and precincts outside the city, even if overall everything is safe D.

NYC is prolly just the clearest example.

[It’s so Joever]

You’re doing the whole equation backwards. You are supposed to create the COIs you want first and then you come up with a reason.