fdonnelly – Page 5 – Reference at Newman Library

Pew Internet Research Data

The Pew Research Center has started providing raw survey data that they collect from their Internet and American Life Project on their new Data Sets page. You can search by date or topic for surveys they’ve done back to 2003. Recent surveys include: The Social Side of the Internet, Purchasing Content Online, Health Tracking, and Cell Phone Use.

This is primarily raw data – people who want to do number crunching can download the data in SPSS or CSV format. This is survey data – variables are provided for weighting the data for use in analysis and for estimating total populations. Summary tables and the survey questionnaire are available in Word format.

Statistical Abstract Discontinued?

One of the librarians on the MAPS-L Listserv posted a response to a question he had sent to the US Census Bureau regarding the fate of the Statistical Abstract. It doesn’t look good, unless Congress acts to re-instate it. This is the response from the Branch Chief, Statistical Compendia Branch, ACSD US Census Bureau:

“The President’s FY 2012 Budget terminates the Statistical Abstract including all of its components. The statistical compendia branch program consists of the Statistical Abstract of the United States and its supplemental products: USA Counties, State and Metropolitan Area Data Book, County and City Data Book, State and County Quick Facts, and MapStats.

Given the current budget environment , the Census Bureau made difficult choices to terminate and reduce a number of existing programs in order to acquire funds for higher priority programs.

Final decisions about the FY 2012 budget are the responsibility of the Congress”

2010 Census vs 2005-2009 ACS

The NY Times just released a new set of nationwide census map depicting some of the recently released data from the 2010 Census. Mapping the 2010 U.S. Census compliments the mapping site that the Times previously posted, Mapping America: Every City, Every Block, which used data from the 2005-2009 American Community Survey.

With both datasets side by side we can see important differences between them. If we look at census tract 68 in New York County (the tract where Baruch College is located), according to the 2010 Census there are 7,614 residents and the two largest groups are white (71%) and Asian (14%). If we look at this same tract according to the 2005-2009 American Community Survey, the estimate is 5,501 residents of whom 80% are white and 8% are Asian. What’s going on here? How can they be so different?

The 2010 Census is a snapshot, a one time count of what the total population was on April 1, 2010. The ACS on the other hand is a moving image, a rolling average based on five years of sample data between 2005 and 2009. They’re not going to be the same as they cover different time periods and are calculated using different methods. Also, the NY Times and most other publications often fail to report the confidence interval and the margins of error for the ACS estimates – for the 2005-2009 ACS, the estimate for Tract 68 is 5,501 residents, plus or minus 459 residents at a 90% confidence level.

Estimates tend to be more reliable as the population being surveyed increases or the geographic area increases in size. So you’ll get better estimates for total number of people than you would for a particular group, and you’ll get better estimates for a county then you would a census tract.

Which dataset should you use? For most of our students, who are often more interested in socio-economic variables like income and education, you’ll have to stick with the ACS. If they’re looking for population data (age, race, gender) and those socio-economic variables as well, they should get all of them from the ACS and not mix the two datasets together. The 2010 Census is not going to include ANY of the socio-economic data; these questions were cut and the ACS is the only place for these variables. But, if you have patrons who are interested in population change from 2000 to 2010 or they’re only interested in demographic variables, then the 2010 Census is the place to go.

I’ve included some maps from both mapping sites below that show tract 68 – they display the same data (total population and race) in a different format (2005-2009 ACS is a dot density map that shows race, 2010 Census is a shaded area map that shows total population change).

NY Times ACS 2005-2009 Map for NY County Census Tract 68

NY Times 2010 Census Map for NY County Census Tract 68

2010 Census Data for New York State

The 2010 Census Redistricting Data was rolled out on a state by state basis over the last month, and New York State was one of the last states to be released. A summary of NY State’s population change along with tables and maps to download is available in this press release.

New York State’s population grew from 18,976,457 in 2000 to 19,378,102 in 2010; a change of 401,645 or 2.1%. New York City’s population grew from 8,008,278 in 2000 to 8,175,133 in 2010; a change of 166,855 or 2.1%.

2010 Census Redistricting Data

The Census Bureau has finished releasing the 2010 Census Redistricting Data (P.L. 94-171) to each of the 50 states, DC, and PR. The Census is required by law to provide this dataset to each state within one year of the count so that states can redraw their legislative district boundaries based on population change.

The redistricting dataset provides basic population data broken down by race, Latino / Hispanic origin, and adult population (18 years and older) and basic housing data by occupancy status (total units occupied and vacant). Data is provided for most geographic summary levels (states, counties, places, census tracts, census block groups) but not all (no PUMAs, ZCTA/ZIP Codes or metro areas).

The easiest place to get basic data for each state, with summaries by counties and the largest cities, is via the Redistricting Data Press Kits. On the state pages you can download an Excel file for the state, along with static maps showing population and population change by county. A link to an interactive population map for the state is also provided

To access the full datasets for all the different geographies in the state, you’ll have to visit the new version of the American Factfinder. Since the interface is a little daunting, they’ve created a video tutorial that shows you how to get the data. For more info about the dataset, visit the 2010 Redistricting Data site.

A large bulk of the 2010 Census will be released in Summary File 1 (SF1) between June and August of 2011. For many of the census or demographic questions we receive (particularly concerning neighborhood data in NYC), you’ll still want to continue to send people to the most current release of the American Community Survey via the original version of the American Factfinder.

Introduction to GIS Practicum

This semester I will be running a day-long workshop entitled “Introduction to GIS using Open Source Software”. GIS is software that you can use for doing geographic analysis (study neighborhoods, target markets, visualize data geographically) and making maps.

The workshop is open to Baruch students (undergraduate, graduate, and CAPS), faculty and staff, and CUNY graduate students, faculty, and staff. The software we’ll be using is free and open source, which means it runs on any operating system and will be easily accessible to everyone before, during, and after the workshop.

The workshop will be offered three times this semester, 20 seats per session. They’ll be on Fridays from 9am to 4:30pm on:

March 4th (register by Feb 28th)
April 1st (register by March 28th)
May 6th (register by May 2nd)

Registration is $30 and includes a comprehensive tutorial booklet and light breakfast. The workshop will be offered in library room 135.

A course description, a link to the registration page, and course material is available in the GIS LibGuide. The registration page is hosted on the CAPS website.

New 2010 Census Maps

The Census Bureau has created some slick looking maps and charts with new 2010 Census data. There’s a national map that shows change in population, change in congressional apportionment, and population density by state, along with population change charts for the past 100 years.

There are also state level maps that show change in population between 2000 and 2010 at the county level for total population and population by race and Hispanic / Latino origin. As of this post there are only 4 states available (New York isn’t ready yet, but you can check out Jersey); all the state level maps should be released by April 1st.

These maps were designed to be used as “widgets”. There’s some html code below each one that you can copy and paste into a web page, allowing you to embed a particular map on your web site. This blog doesn’t support the particular code; otherwise I’d embed one here. It does work in LibGuides however, if you’re using a wide page layout (two columns instead of three).

Take a look here: http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/

Finding current census data for NYC neighborhoods

Since this is a question that we frequently receive and there have been many changes to the census recently, I thought I’d provide some suggestions on how to answer it. Resources include the Census American Factfinder, the Social Explorer database, LibGuides, and Infoshare.

First, a new version of the American Factfinder has been launched. For this semester (Spring 2011) I’d suggest that you NOT use it – stick to the old version. The most recent datasets from the census are from the American Community Survey (ACS) and the new version doesn’t have ANY of the ACS data loaded yet. It will take several months before all of the ACS is added.

Second, I wouldn’t worry about looking for 2010 Census data yet. It’s going to take quite awhile before any neighborhood-level data is released, and once it is released it’s not going to be as comprehensive as it was in the past; the 2010 Census questionnaire was one of the shortest in US history. The ACS is replacing most of the detailed decennial census questions that were previously asked.

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Q. If I’m looking for data for a specific neighborhood, an overview or profile of that neighborhood, where should I look?

A. I’d suggest looking at the 3 year ACS (2007-2009) for public use microdata areas (PUMAs) which are decent for simulating NYC neighborhoods. There are 55 PUMAs in NYC:

1. Use this Google Map on the Neighborhoods tab of the NYC Data guide (http://guides.newman.baruch.cuny.edu/nyc_data) to click on a neighborhood, and go directly to a profile for that neighborhood on the census bureau website. Or

2. Use the Social Explorer database (http://newman.baruch.cuny.edu/search/databases.php), select the ACS 2007-2009, zoom in and click on the PUMA you want. You can then view a detailed demographic profile for that PUMA.

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Q. Hmmmmm… the PUMAs cover an area that’s larger than what I’m interested in. Are there smaller areas I can look at?

A. You can look at the 5 year ACS (2005-2009) for statistical areas called census tracts (the NY Times uses these in their Mapping America web map). Chances are these are smaller than what you would want to simulate a neighborhood , so you may have to choose several tracts and add the data together.

1. Use the Social Explorer’s map interface for the ACS 2005-2009 and select several census tracts by clicking on them or drawing a circle around an area. When you view the data report, you’ll see data for each tract you selected, and a totals column for all the areas (it sums them for you).

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Q. What if I want to compare several neighborhoods or all neighborhoods at once for a particular census variable? I’d like to build a comparison table.

A. The Social Explorer is the easiest choice, but to get access to ALL census tables you’d have to use the American Factfinder (Social Explorer only has a subset of census data):

1. You can use the Social Explorer to generate tables for PUMAs from the 3 year ACS or tracts from the 5 year ACS by clicking on individual areas or drawing a circle around them to create data tables.

2. You can go to the Census American Factfinder site directly (http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html). Choose your dataset (ACS), Series (3 year 2007-2009 or 5 year 2005-2009), geography (pumas or tracts), and then the data table you want. When you choose geographies, you can easily select all PUMAs ranging from 03701 to 04114 to capture all PUMAs in the city.

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Q. I can’t find exactly what I’m looking for in the Census. Are there other sources?

A. Yes – take a look at the NYC Data subject (http://guides.newman.baruch.cuny.edu/nyc_data) guide for a list of alternatives. For example, the Furman Center at NYU publishes neighborhood profiles with lots of real estate data, and the NYC Dept of Health publishes profiles with health data.

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Q. Can I get current data for ZIP Codes?

A. Nope. ZIP Code data is not published as part of the ACS; it’s only available in the decennial census.

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Q. What about the Infoshare database on the library’s db page? Can’t I use that to get census data?

A. You can use Infoshare to build profiles or comparison tables for PUMAs (called sub-borough areas), Community Districts (59 areas slightly different than the 55 PUMAs), tracts, and “neighborhoods”, which are 292 areas designated by a city taskforce created by aggregating census tracts. The latter is the big selling point of this database; although it is difficult to ascertain what the boundaries of these neighborhoods are. My own personal bias is to use freely available resources whenever possible, especially when accessing a dataset that’s public domain to begin with. The American Factfinder is public domain, and there is a limited free version of Social Explorer available via the web. But in the end it’s up to you.

NY Times Mapping America

A follow-up from my post from a few days ago – the NY Times has used the new 5 year 2005-2009 ACS data to build census tract level maps for the entire country. They’re great for viewing distributions and for identifying basic data for specific tracts, but you can’t download or capture anything:

http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/explorer?ref=us

(note – a census tract is a relatively permanent statistical entity created by the Census Bureau designed to have an ideal population between 1500 and 8000 people, with an ideal size of 4000)

New ACS Census Data

The Census Bureau just released a new dataset as part of the American Community Survey. The new 5-year (2005-2009) American Community Survey (ACS) estimates provide data for all areas of the country; all counties and cities regardless of population size, and small areas such as census tracts (but no zip codes – ACS data won’t be provided at the zip code level).

Read the full press release here.

The 5 year estimates are best for small areas, like tracts, that aren’t available in the other series (3 year and 1 year estimates). For neighborhood level stats it’s still best to stick with the 3 year PUMA-level data via the neighborhood map in most cases. Updated estimates for the 3 year series will be available in January.

2010 Census data is still in the works; they should release preliminary stats for apportionment in another week or so.