How It Was...

Not very long ago, when I assigned my students to gather census data on the community in which their field work agency was located, they had to make a trip to the campus library.  The census data required for their assignment were located in several separate census volumes that were difficult to access and challenging to read.  I had to supply them with a paper table of New Jersey data to which they added the statistics for their community.  Then they had to complete the most dreaded aspect of the assignment:  computing percentages for each data item, and comparing those percentages to the state percentages which I had provided.  In the last year in which we used the paper volumes, someone tore the pages for Newark New Jersey out of the census book, and the students had to scurry to other libraries in the area in search of these data.

How It Is Now...

Today, students are able to access census data on the United States, a given state, a county, or a municipality with a few clicks of their mouse.  The search begins at the US Census Home page, which is located at http://www.census.gov/  A link on the right side of the page is entitled “State and County Quick Facts”.  There is a drop down list right below this title, with the state of Alabama showing in the box.  If you click on the arrow next to Alabama, you will see a list of states, and can highlight the state of your choice, click it to place it where Alabama was, and then hit “Go” which is right below the box.  An extensive list of statistics appears, with figures for your selected state and for the country as a whole, with percentages already computed for you:

At the top of the chart are two new drop down lists, one which allows you to select a county of your choice within the state, and the second of which allows you to select a city within the state.  If you select a county, you receive the same table as before, but this time, you are given data for the county of your choice and for the state as a whole, again with percentages already computed for you. 

If you wish to select a city, the process is the same for the larger cities.  However, not all municipalities are included on the city listing supplied.  This is not surprising, as New Jersey has 567 municipalities, and a list of all of them would be very long.  So only the major cities are supplied on the drop down list of cities.  To locate data on other municipalities, you select the option for “Other places not listed”.  You are shown a box in which you can type in the name of the desired municipality.  The title on top of the box reminds you of the state in which the search will be conducted.  If you type in “Union Township”, the location of my University, and click on the box titled “submit query”.

You will be given a list of several municipalities containing either the word “Union” or the word “Township” or both.  You can then click on the correct town, and you will receive data for the requested township in an Adobe Acrobat file:

Although these data are not quite as neatly packaged, it is a simple matter to go back to the state data previously retrieved and create a chart that compares the state to this municipality. 

If Quick Facts do not include all of the data desired, there is a second link on the census home page called “American Factfinder”.

This time, you can either type in a state to get state data or a municipality and the state in which it is located to get municipal data.  You are given a list of municipalities from which to choose, and you can then click on the one you want.

You receive a chart with data on the selected municipality, comparing it to the United States as a whole:

On the chart, there are blue links that say “show more” that you can click to obtain a more detailed breakdown.  You also have the option to click on a link to see a map of the area.

The census home page is a wonderful resource for anyone teaching macro generalist practice, policy, or proposal writing.  It is also an excellent way to introduce students to the application of research and statistics to generalist practice.