6 Apr
2011
6 Apr
'11
3:36 p.m.
Megan,
I can't respond re other organizations. However, I'm most interested
in the list of tables you find missing from the ACS data. This is
another example of why user input is desperately needed in that
arena. However, I'm pretty sure that poverty status and sex by
employment status actually are there; at least, they've been there in
the 1 year and 3 year releases.
If you need historical comparisons, I think you have to compare ACS
05-10 with Census 2000.
You should note that long-form data from 2000 were also available
only at block group level and higher (in fact, long form data have
never been available at the block level, or at least not since before
1960). So you're not losing anything there. You should be able to get
household type by relationship from the 2010 SF1 file, due out this
summer. That's a short form item.
Please be aware that block group data carry extremely high margins of
error (sampling errors). This was also true in the long-form data
from the census, but the MOEs were not published so no one really noticed.
Hope this helps some.
Patty Becker
At 03:57 PM 4/6/2011, you wrote:
My name is Megan Cogburn and I am a Community Planner
with the North
Carolina Department of Transportation. My group is a part of the
Project Development and Environmental Analysis branch and we are
responsible for completing all of the NEPA documentation for bridge
and highway projects statewide. Specifically, we prepare technical
reports assessing potential project impacts on the human environment
from the local/urban planning perspective.
We currently use decennial Census data for our demographic analyses,
however we are thinking of switching to use American Community
Survey data to make our reports more current and since the American
Community Survey has now replaced the traditional decennial Census
long-form. However, it has come to our attention that ACS data is
only available at the block group level for 5 Year Estimates (and
not annually). Moreover, certain tables that were available for the
2000 Census are not available in the ACS 5 Year Estimates (such as
household type by relationship, sex by employment status, and
poverty status). Another glaring issue is that ACS 5 Year Estimates
were just released in 2010, so there is no previous data to make
historical comparisons.
So, my question for the listserv is how other organizations are
moving forward given the discrepancies between the two datasets. My
group is trying to figure out where to get missing data, how to make
historical comparisons, and also the best way to retrieve ACS 5-Year
Estimates. A huge drawback for us is that we use block group data
for multiple variables and this is only available for the 5 year
estimates. In order to retrieve summary file data for block groups
you have to use an Excel macro retrieval file that takes an
extremely long time, download a massive file from their FTP site, or
use the not so user friendly Data Ferret platform.
Please advise!
Megan Cogburn, MCRP
Community Planner | Human Environment Unit
NCDOT Project Development & Environmental Analysis
e: mscogburn(a)ncdot.gov
p: (919) 707-6062
f: (919) 212-5785
Email correspondence to and from this sender is subject to the N.C.
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Patricia C. (Patty) Becker 248/354-6520
APB Associates/SEMCC FAX 248/354-6645
28300 Franklin Road Home 248/355-2428
Southfield, MI 48034 pbecker(a)umich.edu