RE: [CTPP] Brainstorming about INCOME variable for the futureCTPP(using ACS records)

Here is the link that includes an .xls document that shows WHICH county is in WHICH BEA EA or CEA. http://www.bea.gov/regional/xls/ea/eastructure.xls This might help people think about whether this geographic unit might be reasonable to incorporate, but I think the larger issue about INCOME is whether people like the idea about regionally-based quartile and quintiles, rather than fixed income ranges (In CTPP2000 we used for the 4 ranges: Below $15K, $15-35k; $35 - 75K, and $75+K). Ed Christopher has an excellent point that your IDEAS on all aspects of a 3-year ACS summary for a CTPP product are needed. We hope you will share your thoughts with this listserv! On the topic of data suppression, Nanda Srinivasan has been working at the Census Bureau with the confidential files (he got "special sworn status") and is examining IPF approaches to SYNTHESIZING small area (e.g. TAZ-to-TAZ)flows for a table of MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION BY INCOME, based on "real" data for larger zones (e.g. what we envision as "large TAZs"). Also, an NCHRP 08-36 "quick response" project on disclosure avoidance should be under contract very soon, with additional research on the same topic, but using a different statistical approach. We hope that these projects will result in methods that can be implemented on new CTPP products and avoid the data suppression that hindered the usability of Table 3-07 in the CTPP2000. Elaine 206-220-4460