Neighborhoods – Reference at Newman Library

Updates to the NYC Neighborhood Handout

For those of you who visit courses and do presentations on finding neighborhood data, I’ve just updated my handout “Finding NYC Neighborhood Census Data“. It summarizes the types of geographies, datasets, and resources that are available for finding neighborhood-level census data. The primary change was that I added a new resource called the NYC Factfinder; this is a web-map application produced by the Dept of City Planning that lets users get basic census profiles for census tracts and neighborhood tabulation areas (NTAs). They’ve added a new feature where you can also build your own neighborhood profiles by selecting census tracts. For additional info about the NYC Factfinder you can read this post.

The handout is embedded in key places in the Lib Guides – in the NYC Data (on the Neighborhoods tab) and in the US Census guide. I also updated my American Factfinder tutorial last spring, and it’s also embedded in these guides. Each tutorial has its own box, so if you wanted to embed either one feel free (the boxes are named Finding NYC Neighborhood Census Data and American Factfinder respectively). It’s better to link rather than copy, as I update the tutorials every year or so.

My team is currently working on two new tutorials that are in a similar vein to the American Factfinder tutorial: one for the new NYC Factfinder and another for the Social Explorer. We should have them ready in about a month. I’ll be updating the NYC neighborhood handout again in the spring, once the latest American Community Survey data for 2014 is released at the end of this year. The Census Bureau is dropping the 3-year ACS estimates with the 2014 release, so we’ll just have a choice between 1-year and 5-year estimates. At that point I’ll remove any reference to the 3-year numbers.

Accessibility to Jobs for NYC Neighborhoods

The Rudin Center for Transportation at NYU recently released a report entitled Mobility, Economic Opportunity and New York City Neighborhoods. Included with the report are an interactive map and summary profiles by ZIP Code (together in one PDF) that illustrate how accessible each neighborhood is relative to employment opportunities. In addition to illustrating accessibility, the data also seeks to illustrate the balance or imbalance between available job opportunities (based on the type / sector of work) versus the education, skill, or income level of different neighborhoods.

Accessibility measures and transit routing were generated using the Google Apps API, and the other data comes from the Census: neighborhood demographics from the 2008-2012 American Community Survey, and job counts from the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) Origin-Destination Employment Statistics. This would be a good resource for our students who are doing neighborhood research.

NYC Neighborhood Census Data Updates

I’ve received a few requests to do census data intros for spring courses, so I thought it would be a good time to mention this: I’ve updated the handout I’ve created for Finding NYC Neighborhood Census Data. It provides an overview of what neighborhoods are, what the census datasets are, and summarizes the main sources for the data. The handout is a PDF file that is embedded throughout the NYC Data Guide at http://guides.newman.baruch.cuny.edu/nyc_data.

I’ve also made updates to another PDF handout, the American Factfinder Tutorial, that’s embedded throughout the NYC Data and US Census Guides. I expect that I’ll have to update it again within the next month or so, as the Census is going to alter the AFF interface again to make it easier to use (based on user feedback).

The most pertinent, recent change to the Census: they are now releasing ZIP Code / ZCTA data on an annual basis as part of the 5-year American Community Survey ACS (previously, ZCTA data was only available via the decennial census). I’ve updated the Google Maps on the Neighborhoods tab of the NYC Data Guide so, when you click on a ZCTA, you can choose to look at the 2010 Census profile or one of the 4 ACS profiles from 2007-2011. The PUMA map has been updated to point to the latest 3-year ACS data (2009-2011) and the borough links to the most recent 1-year ACS data (2011).

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.