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@ncdot.gov
p: (919) 707-6062
f: (919) 212-5785
Email correspondence to and from this sender is subject to the N.C.
Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.
_______________________________________________
ctpp-news mailing list
ctpp-news@chrispy.net
http://www.chrispy.net/mailman/listinfo/ctpp-news
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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@umich.edu