FINDING AND USING CENSUS 2000 DATA
1.
Go to http://www.census.gov and click on
American FactFinder (in list at left)
2.
Click on “Data
Sets”
3.
Select “Census 2000
Summary File 3 (SF3)” and click on “Detailed Tables.” (Or you can select “Quick Tables for a preselected group.)
If you want 1990 census results, scroll down page to find them.
4.
Now you choose
your location or locations (you can add as many as you want in your final
table):
a.
For any city in
b.
You can search
by a specific address to find a particular census tract or congressional
district, etc.
c.
Keep adding
your locations to the box until you’re done.
5.
Now you choose
the data tables that you want to compare.
There are hundreds of tables, but they can be divided basically into
population (age, race, ethnicity); income (poverty level); households (housing
units). Select the table and hit “add” –
to select more than one table hold down the Ctrl key. For suggestions on tables see notes
below.
6.
After selecting
your variables, click “Show Table.”
7.
To make changes
to your selections, choose “Change Selections.”
To download data:
1.
Select
Print/Download drop down menu (at the top) and select the Download option.
2.
From pop up
menu, select either Rich Text Format (.rtf) for the “report format” or the .CVS
to use the data in Excel.
3.
You can open
the data in Excel, save it to desktop for importing into Excel later or simply
view it in report format.
Notes about tables:
1.
The “What’s This?” button is extremely helpful in explaining the data
contained in the various tables.
2.
If you are
comparing 1990 data and 2000 data there will be some problems due to the
changes in reporting, especially in the way racial/ethnic identity is
reported. Hispanic is considered an
ethnic, not a racial category; Hispanics are counted across the racial spectrum
– when asked if they are white, black, American Indian, Pacific Islander, or
Other, Hispanics will often (but not always) answer “Other.” The best table to use for describing the
racial and ethnic composition of a community is P7.
3.
What table to
use? Here are some recommendations to
start with for 2000 data (in Parentheses are the tables to use for 1990 data):
a.
Population: P1 (P001)
b.
Race,
ethnicity: P7 (P12)
c.
Households: P10 (P005)
d.
Poverty: P87 (P117)
e.
Median
Household income: P53 (P80A)
f.
Housing Units: H1 (H001)
g.
Rentership: H7 (H008)
h.
Foreign born: P21 (P042)
i.
Recent
immigrants (last 5 years): P22 (P036)
j.
Language spoken
at home: PCT10 (P031)
k.
Education
level: P37 (P57)
l.
Public
transportation to work: P30 (P49)