New York SBDC Research Network

American FactFinder (AFF) is the Census Bureau’s primary dissemination tool for many Census Bureau Programs, including: Decennial Census American Community Survey Population Estimates Economic Census of the United States Economic Census of the Island Areas Survey of Business Owners Commodity Flow Survey County & ZIP Code Business Patterns Nonemployer Statistics Annual Survey of Manufacturers These programs listed above account for more than 60 datasets and publish data for over 12 million different geographies. To accommodate this large amount of data, AFF follows a topic based approach. You build a search by selecting keywords and filters from different search menus. As you add additional keywords and filters, the search results become limited to only the tables that meet the criteria. Once you have refined the search results to a suitable level, you can either download or view one or more tables. The table(s) will display the data selected.

On May 9 the House voted to kill the American Community Survey, which collects data on some 3 million households each year and is the largest survey next to the decennial census. The ACS — which has a long bipartisan history, including its funding in the mid-1990s and full implementation in 2005 — provides data that help determine how more than $400 billion in federal and state funds are spent annually. Businesses also rely heavily on it to do such things as decide where to build new stores, hire new employees, and get valuable insights on consumer spending habits... The fight over cutting funds for data-gathering agencies has opened up a rift in the deficit-hawk crowd. A handful of organizations that generally support big fiscal spending cuts have voiced their support for fully funding the three main data-gathering agencies: Census, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The Chamber of Commerce, for example, strongly advocates funding them, since its

American FactFinder is the primary tool for accessing data on the 2010 Census, the American Community Survey, Population Estimates and eventually the Economic Census. This link will help you navigate the new version of the American FactFinder page on the Census website. Please take some time to become familiar with the site before it goes live in January 2011.

As you may know, 2000 is scheduled to be the last decennial Census that will gather "long-form" data. The information gathered from the long form of the census covered income/poverty, language, ancestry, education, homeowner/renter status and expenditures for same, plus much more. Data users were frustrated about having nine-year-old figures in 2009. Thus was born the American Community Survey , which will eventually provide numbers every year starting in 2010. Because there are different size requirements for geographies, this creates what might be confusion for the user. 2006: 2005 ACS - statistics for entities of 65,000 2007: 2006 ACS - statistics for entities of 65,000 2008: 2007 ACS - statistics for entities of 65,000 PLUS 2005-2007 statistics for entities of 20,000 2009: 2008 ACS - statistics for entities of 65,000 PLUS 2006-2008 statistics for entities of 20,000 2010: 2009 ACS - statistics for entities of 65,000 PLUS 2007-2009 statistics for entities of 20,000 2005-2

On December 9, 2008, the Census Bureau will release the first set of three-year American Community Survey data for all geographies with populations greater than 20,000. The release will provide the first look at detailed socioeconomic and housing characteristics for geographies between 20,000 and 64,999 since Census 2000. The type of data released and geographies covered can be found here . Different from a point-in-time estimate Before I talk about multiyear estimates, it’s important to understand the concept of a period estimate because all ACS estimates are period estimates. The ACS produces period estimates of socioeconomic and housing characteristics. It is designed to provide estimates that describe the average characteristics of an area over a specific time period. In the case of ACS one-year estimates, the period is the calendar year. For example, the 2007 ACS data describe the population and housing characteristics of an area from January 1, 2007 through December 31, 2007, not

This past week I was able to attend a training session at the New York Library Association's annual conference that was led by an Information Services Specialist from the Boston Regional Census Center. The next decennial census is scheduled to take place on April 1st, 2010. There have been a few changes in terms of what information will be collected through the census. The 2010 Census will only have 10 questions and every household will recieve the questionnaire. In New York State it is essential that every household fill out the questionnaire because the responses will determine the number of representatives that NYS will lose in Congress. It is predicted that the state will lose two representatives, but if every New Yorker were to be counted and surveyed, than theoretically we could only lose one seat. The long form has been eliminated entirely and has been replaced by the American Community Survey , which will provide the detailed information on housing, income, education,

Looking for information on how Americans feel about...well, almost anything? Check out the online data available through the General Social Survey . The GSS has asked the same core " demographic, behavioral, and attitudinal questions" since 1972, allowing us to monitor social change throughout this period. You can browse variables (alphabetically) here. It's literally "abortion" to "zodiac."

Since there seems to be some understandable confusion about the ACS, I was pleased to see that the Brookings Institution sponsored an internet class for journalists in November 2006. The class was given by D'Vera Cohn, Cynthia Taeuber, and Andrew Reamer. The presentation, slides, and transcript are all available on the Brookings site . The webcast provides a good overview to working with the ACS. It is targeted towards journalists so it is not very technical at all. The formal presentation lasts about 30 minutes and the rest of the time (20 minutes) is questions and answers. Or you can just ask your favorite librarians for help.

Here's the good news: there are annual data available from the American Community Survey . It now covers geographies of 65,000 or more, compared with the 250,000 population limit from last year. The ACS is designed to replace the 2010 Census long form questions. Here's the bad news: because of previous cuts in the Congressional funding, the 2005 ACS does not capture data from group quarters, which include prisons, college dormitories, and nursing homes. So, for instance, the population estimate for the city of Albany - calculated through a different methodology - is 93,523, down from 95,658 in the 2000 Decennial Census. But the 2005 ACS shows 78,404. One cannot make any population comparisons. Depending on the category, one may or may not be able to compare other characteristics either. For instance, 2005 ACS data in a place with dorms will skew older than what's really happening, whereas a place with a large nursing home will skew younger. Data on race, place of birth, vet