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Finding and Understanding Census Data

Catherine Morse

Government Information, Law and Political Science Librarian

cmorse@umich.edu

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Today

  • About census data
  • data.census.gov (census portal)
  • Brainstorming how to use the data

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Why do we have a census?

"Francis William Edmonds: Taking the Census (1854)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.�http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/2006.457

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Why do we have a decennial census?

  • Apportionment of representatives
    • Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution

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“The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.”

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The census has changed over time

  • Racial categories have changed over time
  • Gender categories have changed over time
  • Terms used to describe categories have changed over time (race, disability)
  • Geographic organization changes
    • Territories become states
    • Cities annex
    • Census tracts change frequently

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Questions asked in the 2020 census

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  • Ethnicity
  • Race
  • Sex
  • Age
  • Household Relationship
  • Housing Tenure (own or rent)

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More than just the decennial census

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American Community Survey

  • A nationwide continuous monthly survey started in 2005
  • Samples about 3 million addresses each year
  • Detailed population characteristics
    • Income
    • Educational attainment
    • Disability
    • Health Insurance
  • Data released at different intervals (tract data every 5 years)

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Household Pulse Survey Data

  • Collecting data on how people’s lives have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic
  • All tables show data for the nation, each of the fifty states, plus Washington, D.C., and the fifteen largest metropolitan areas
  • Detailed tables
    • Unemployment
    • Childcare
    • Food insecurity
    • Mental health
    • Vaccination

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Census data availability depends on geography.

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Here’s how the census divides the nation…

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Let’s take a look at tables in data.census.gov

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Other sources for government data

Data.gov - portal for US government open data

Think about agencies that would collect data

  • DHS - immigration, refugees/asylum seekers
  • NOAA - climate, oceans, satellite data
  • USGS - mapping, geospatial, mineral data
  • Education - education, libraries

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What can you do with this data?