WEBSITE MAKES IT EASY TO EXAMINE CENSUS DATA

Gary Rotstein
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
December 15, 2010

No one has to be a computer guru to examine the latest data examining every municipality from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey.

Here's a step-by-step guide of how to access the ACS data online to obtain a range of information about your community or to compare it to others.

(Remember, however, that the information shown is based on estimates from interviewing about 10 percent of the population. Because of the sample size, estimates from small municipalities is less reliable than large ones, and certain categories that involve small subsets of the population are even more prone to error.)

1. Go to www.factfinder.census.gov.

2. Beneath the Census 2010 logo, click on "Get Data" at the end of the "American Community Survey" section.

3. For broad information about your municipality, keep the "2005-2009 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates" highlighted and click at the right on "Data Profiles."

4. Under "Select a Geographic Type," click on "County Subdivision."

5. Under "Select a State," click on "Pennsylvania."

6. Under "Select a County," select your own, such as "Allegheny."

7. Under "Select a Geographic Area," highlight your municipality.

8. Click on "Show Result."

Your screen will show different "Social" information about your community, such as household makeup and educational levels. Clicking at the top on "Economic," "Housing" and "Demographic" options will provide different characteristics, and clicking on "Narrative" gives an overall community description.

To compare your municipality to others, go back to step 3 and, instead of "Data Profiles," click on "Detailed Tables."

Repeat steps above for clicking on county subdivision, Pennsylvania and Allegheny. Then click on "All County Subdivisions" if you want to compare all of the county's municipalities -- or for just a few comparisons, highlight individual municipalities and click on "Add" for each one.

Then click on "Next." Then highlight any of the subject tables that interest you, click on "Add," and click on "Show Result." Data from your selected communities will show up side by side.