--- Updated July 28, 2011
OVERVIEW
WWW.CENSUS.GOV is still the best and most reliable source of service area wide data on eligible children and their families, short of going door to door yourself.The American Factfinder tool WWW.FACTFINDER.CENSUS.GOV is the quickest way to help you create detailed tables and Data Profiles from either the Diennial Census (10-year) or the American Community Survey.
The annual American Community Survey asks about specific age and income information of all members of the household. So it can provide the number and percent of families total and in poverty by race, ethnicity, and related information about presence of children <18 by different geographies (state, county, place, zipcode, census tract, and Native and Tribal Areas. There are 3 ACS datasets:1 year estimates (for communities or other geographies over 65,000 in population); 3 year average (greater than 20,000) and 5 year averages (less than 20,000 people). (Explanation of ACS and other datasets here)
We will use FACTFINDER to create data profiles and tables in the exercises below. The latest (previous year’s) ACS is usually released in late September of each year.This September is also when the ACS datasets will move to a much improved version of this interface. The new FACTFINDER2 allows for online editing of the tables you want to download or print.
ACS tables often provide a margin of error statistic which you can also use to create a range of eligible children, high and low.
The 10 year Diennial Census data files for 2000 still exist, and the 2010 data files are up for larger communities, but the smaller community tables are still being uploaded.You can still get useful information, but we will not cover that here, Poverty Status by sex by age by single year data is no longer available through Factfinder from what I can tell.Other tools such as DataFerrett, or using the PUMS database could work.
Mapping -- In addition to generating data files by census tract, zipcode, or place,http://www.census.gov will also automatically map some data by counties at the state or national level for you – but not child poverty <5. The quality of the base maps are pretty poor, but they can be cut and pasted into MS Word.
You can create maps showing 2000 child poverty <5 by census tract or county at www.FairData2000.org.They may update their data, so check back.It is easy to use. The Census site does let you download GIS compatible excel or text files of ACS tables, for use with simple mapsoftware such as BizMaps, MapInfo, or the much more elegant and useful ArcInfo, ArcView, or other platforms from ESRI.
STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS TO GET DATA FAST!
There are many ways to maneuver through http://www.census.gov.
This path will work and contains all the required data under section 1305.3 c 1 and some of the required elements under section 1305.3.c4
A.Narrative and specific full Data Profiles on conditions in all or part of your Service Area:
1. START at www.census.gov.Select and click on “American Factfinder” at the right hand side.An interim page appears.Click on “Factfinder.census.gov” until September 2011.
For the 5 year average (all communities regardless of size), use the “Fast Access” Fact Sheet text window to enter a county, city, zipcode, etc. and then a state Click “Go”
2. When new page appears, click on “Narrative Profile” on the upper right(don’t bother looking at the tables below, there’s better stuff ahead.)The Narrative Profile might be useful – take a look and download if you like – but again keep going.
3. Now, at the left, you’ll see a list of Data Profiles:Social, Economic, Housing, and Demographics in addition to the NarrativeAfter looking them over, click on “Print/Download” and select Download.
4. Select one of the top set of print option, by what you are most comfortable working in Excel, or Rich Text Format (.rtf) for a text processor such as MS Word. When Factfinder2 comes on line, you will be able to select to download or print only those subtables you specifically want.
5. OR If you want a full copy for printing, select Print and then Print to PDF.
6. To switch to the 1 year ACS dataset profiles, select “Datasets” at the center upper part of the page.
7.Scroll down to the appropriate Dot and Click on “2009 ACS 1 Year Estimate.” A set of table types appears, select Data Profiles, and repeat from Item #3 Above.
8.If you select “Detailed Tables you could proceed from Step 5 below.
B.Poverty status and Number of Children 5 and under
1. START- At www.census.gov, select Factfinder, from the left hand menu.Factfinder is one of several interfaces for creating tables you can then download.
2. Select Datasets – which year(s) of ACS
At home page, on right hand side, select Datasets, and click the recent 1 year American Community Survey for communities >65,000.If your community does not appear, select the 3 or 5 year estimated annual average.
3. Select American Community Survey(1, 3, or 5 year average). The 5-year average dataset will work for every geography.
4.Click on “Get Data”
5.On right side, click on “Detailed Tables”
Select Geography
6.Select County (or whatever level you choose)
7.Select your state from list
8.The third box should now fill with county names; highlight one or more county names and click “Add.”You can select more than one county at a time. Use “Command – Click” (on Mac) to highlight multiples and then click “Add.”
9.You can go back up and change the Geography to Place, or Zipcode, or Census Tracts. If available, you’ll get another list. Scroll and “Add” those too. You should see a growing list of geographies at the bottom of the page.Each geographic level will get its own table. [Comparative Geographies is another kind of option for some of the ACS datasets – this option creates tables in which the desired data is in columns side by side.]
Select indicators (specific detailed tables)
10.You will see a list of all possible tables, scroll through and select by number (see below) or, select “by keyword” and enter the words “poverty by age” and click “Search”A list of table names and numbers will appear.
11.Highlight B17001. POVERTY STATUS … BY SEX BY AGE and click “ADD”See also B09001 provide numbers for all children <3, 3 and 4, and 5 years of age to get a better sense of the proportion of children by age cohort.
NOTE: if you have not selected “Detailed Tables” you will get a different set of table numbers.
Review, print, download results
12.Click Show Result.-- The name of the first Detailed Table with its geography will appear.-- Scroll down to see everything.
If you like what you see, Select “Print/Download” on the upper right to save the results.“Print” or save as a pdf if you don’t intent to change anything for your report.“Download” and save the data as a “rich text” RTF (readable by MS Word) or Excel format file for further editing and/or calculations and formatting.You can also import the RTF file into Excel or copy the Excel table into your Report document.
You can also select/highlight specific rows from the web page table, and copy into Word or Excel directly, although sometimes the formatting will vary from the original. FACTFINDER2 will allow you to just edit the table, and select only the rows and columns you want to keep – a great feature!
If the Margin of Error percents look large, use that column to calculate a high and lowrange for the Estimate column.
13.Bookmark the page, or Save or Print the Query from the Print/Download menu selection to come back to this table again quickly.
CAUTION – Find out whether your area had a problem with undercounting (which can happen in very rural, or very urban with many homeless people, or in areas with many new or undocumented immigrants who are not familiar distrustful of the Census). the Census now does analyses by counties.If your Service Area has a high undercount, you may want to adjust your figures, by providing a range.
GETTING HELP:Believe it or not, you can call or email the Census staff and they will help you personally with your questions!! Try it if you get stuck or just want some help.
MORE HELP – the Center for Community Futures publishes the “How-To” Guide for preparing Head Start Community Assessment, with even more details.
Good luck and keep in touch!