RE: [CTPP] Proposed Criteria and Guidelines for PUMAs responses are due FEB 28

Dear Everyone -- I am just re-iterating Mike's note. Some of the reasons that we want the transportation community to pay attention to PUMA criteria are: a. For Census 2000, the participation of transportation agencies in the PUMA delineation process was spotty, and therefore, the PUMAs defined in coordination with the CB's State Data Center program often were not useful for transportation planning, e.g. a county might be broken up into City A, City B and "rest of County" which looked like a cookie with 2 holes. The proposed criteria is to use census tracts and counties as the building blocks. b. PUMAs used to be primarily used with the Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS), but PUMAs are now an important tabulation geography which meet the Census Bureau's threshold for annual reporting from the American Community Survey. Since counties and places often do not meet the 1-year threshold of 65,000 population, using PUMAs provides a geographic coverage without holes. I hope you will take this opportunity to provide your thoughts to the Census Bureau. And, when the actual delineation occurs, I hope that you will work together with your State's Data Center. http://www.census.gov/sdc/network.html Elaine Murakami FHWA Office of Planning 206-220-4460 -----Original Message----- From: ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net [mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net] On Behalf Of michael.r.ratcliffe(a)census.gov Sent: Monday, January 03, 2011 12:27 PM To: ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net Subject: [CTPP] Proposed Criteria and Guidelines for PUMAs for the 2010Census and the ACS Proposed Criteria and Guidelines for Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs) for the 2010 Census and the American Community Survey The Census Bureau announces publication of the "Proposed Public Use Microdata Area (PUMA) Criteria and Guidelines for the 2010 Census and American Community Survey" available on the Census Bureau’s website at http://www.census.gov/geo/puma/puma2010.html . The Census Bureau is seeking public comment on these proposed criteria and guidelines. Comments, suggestions, or recommendations regarding the criteria should be submitted in writing, no later than February 28, 2011 to Timothy Trainor, Chief, Geography Division, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC 20233-7400. The Census Bureau's 2010 PUMAs will be used to present 2010 Census decennial Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) data, American Community Survey (ACS) PUMS data, and ACS estimates. PUMA delineations are subject to population threshold, specific building block geography, geographic nesting, and PUMA contiguity criteria. Proposed changes for 2010 PUMAs include: § Only one level of PUMA geography will be delineated (comparable to the 5-percent PUMAs for Census 2000). § Each PUMA must have a population of at least 100,000 persons at the time it is delineated, and must maintain a minimum population of 100,000 throughout the decade. § Each PUMA-county part must meet a minimum population threshold of 2,400 persons. § Counties and census tracts will be the only geographic “building blocks” for 2010 PUMAs. Additional information about the history of PUMAs, as well as summaries of the proposed changes are available on the Census Bureau's website at http://www.census.gov/geo/puma/puma2010.html . To obtain further information concerning the Census Bureau’s proposed 2010 PUMA criteria, please contact Vincent Osier, Chief, Geographic Standards and Criteria Branch, Geography Division, U.S. Census Bureau, via e-mail at vincent.osier(a)census.gov or by telephone at 301-763-3056. Michael R. Ratcliffe Assistant Division Chief, Geocartographic Products and Criteria Geography Division U.S. Census Bureau 4600 Silver Hill Road/ MS-7400 Washington, DC 20233-7400 301-763-8977 michael.r.ratcliffe(a)census.gov