Tattoo parlors in the US

American states with feral hogs expanding as American tattoo parlors expand. Two completely unrelated migrations: one porcine, one decorative, sharing the same upward path. The hog and the ink, both finding new territory.

US states with established feral hog populations grew from about 28 in 2008 to over 38 by 2020 as the species expanded its range across the South, Mountain West, and into the Midwest. US tattoo parlors grew from about 16,000 in 2008 to over 25,000 by 2020 as tattoos shifted from countercultural to mainstream. Two completely unrelated American expansion stories sharing a window because the same twelve years saw both a species range expansion and a normalised personal-decoration industry.

Two unrelated migrations shared a decade. The hog moved through the woods; the tattoo moved through the workplace.