I agree with Patty that
data.census.gov still isn’t up to par, but I’m beginning to get
the hang of it. There’s no going back (as best I understand it) and if you don’t make the
switch you’ll be pretty flatfooted when they pull FactFinder away this summer.
While not denying that the changeover from AFF to
data.census.gov is challenging, let me
throw out a few hacks that I’ve found helpful:
1. If you’re getting up in years (like me!) you might ask a younger staffer to play
with it a while. I’m saying that because a 20-something in my office showed me a neat
trick I’d completely missed. I’m not downplaying the value of experience, but the younger
generation might have an edge in a few areas.
2. Be sure to use Google Chrome for
data.census.gov, this has the best interface.
3. I have written a “cheat sheet” of key table numbers to help me find the critical
tables I used a lot in FactFinder, like DP-02 (selected Social characteristics), DP-03
(economic characteristics) and so on. While the “search” feature in
data.census.gov is
arguably better, it can be off-putting. Don’t forget you can select by a list of topics in
the “advanced search” mode.
4. The staff at
data.census.gov do listen to suggestions and get back to you with
questions and complaints via email.
5. You can select data straight from a table in
data.census.gov and paste it into an
Excel spreadsheet. It’s way faster than any previous downloading system, but (for now at
least) limited by the fact that you can only select a few cells, you can’t (yet?) do
shift-ctrl-right or shift-ctrl-down to grab an entire table (if some
data.census.gov staff
are reading this please please please this would help).
Jonathan Lupton AICP
Metroplan
Little Rock AR
From: Patricia Becker <pbecker(a)umich.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, January 29, 2020 3:34 PM
To: ctpp-news(a)mailman.chrispy.net
Subject: [CTPP] Re: Question Regarding Mapping Low Income Population by Census Tract
I apologize for getting my years mixed up. 2018 5 year ACS is on
data.census.gov<http://data.census.gov>, and 2017 is on American FactFinder.
Patty Becker
On Wed, Jan 29, 2020 at 4:04 PM Sally Goodman
<Sgoodman@actransit.org<mailto:Sgoodman@actransit.org>> wrote:
We do, too. The key is to define low-income for your analysis. In the SF Bay Area transit
agencies all use 200% of the Federal Poverty Rate as the low-income cut off, and you
should be able to get Census data on that basis. For example table B17026, “RATIO OF
INCOME TO POVERTY LEVEL OF FAMILIES IN THE PAST 12 MONTHS” shows the population (in this
case, number of families) with income under 50% of the federal poverty level, 50-74% of
the FPL, and so on, up to 5 times the FPL. You should be able to find other data like that
by tract, and even by block group.
SALLY GOODMAN
Title VI Program Administrator
Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District
1600 Franklin Street, Oakland 94612
510-891-4719 | sgoodman@actransit.org<mailto:sgoodman@actransit.org> |
www.actransit.org/CivilRights<http://www.actransit.org/CivilRights>
From: Jackie Eastwood
<jeastwood@lacrossecounty.org<mailto:jeastwood@lacrossecounty.org>>
Sent: Wednesday, January 29, 2020 11:05 AM
To: ctpp-news@mailman.chrispy.net<mailto:ctpp-news@mailman.chrispy.net>
Subject: [CTPP] Re: Question Regarding Mapping Low Income Population by Census Tract
We use ratio of income to poverty. You can define low-income as the poverty line or some
percentage of the poverty line. We use 150%.
Jackie Eastwood
Transportation Planner
La Crosse Area Planning Committee
212 6th St N, Room 1200
La Crosse Wi 54601
608.785.6141 or 608.792.0520 (cell)
From: Weinberger Penelope
<pweinberger@aashto.org<mailto:pweinberger@aashto.org>>
Sent: Wednesday, January 29, 2020 12:58 PM
To: ctpp-news@chrispy.net<mailto:ctpp-news@chrispy.net>
Subject: [CTPP] FW: Question Regarding Mapping Low Income Population by Census Tract
Hey CTPPers, I received this query, I welcome your thoughts.
We are currently looking at environmental justice factors on Urban Arterials in the Denver
Metro area, and I was wondering if you might have any insights into mapping low income
population by census tract. The only data I have been able to find includes low and
moderate income (from HUD), and I am having trouble even finding that data at the tract
level. Do you know of a good data source for this? Any help or insights would be greatly
appreciated.
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Patricia C. (Patty) Becker
APB Associates/Southeast Michigan Census Council (SEMCC)
28332 Franklin Rd, Southfield, MI 48034
office: 248-354-6520
home:248-355-2428
pbecker@umich.edu<mailto:pbecker@umich.edu>