EDITORIAL: FactFinder: Census Bureau’s new online software not as easy to use as advertised, but valuable

The Lufkin Daily News
January 20, 2011

The U.S. Census Bureau says that by April 1 “the American people will have 2010 Census data for more than 9 million census blocks and more than 74,000 census tracts across the country right at their fingertips,” and that its online American Factfinder software, when fully implemented, will have about 250 billion data cells in more than 40,000 tables.

All of those numbers are overwhelming, particularly to someone who isn’t used to working with data tables and spreadsheets, but the Census Bureau promises the new version of its American Factfinder website is “easier than ever” to use. “Our goal is to give users a simpler path to 2010 Census data,” Census Bureau Director Robert Groves stated in a press release. “With this new and improved incarnation of the American FactFinder, the American people will be able to really understand the value of their participation and learn from it.”

We’ll be honest: After playing with the new site — factfinder2.census.gov — for just a few minutes, we can say that the site is not especially easy to figure out unless you know exactly what you’re looking for. If you’re just browsing, we’d recommend clicking on the “2009 American Community Survey” on the left, then the “Data Profiles” link in the 2005-2009 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates box. From there, select a geographic type (say, “County”) from the first drop-down menu, then pick the specific state and county, and click “Show Result.” That will give you a lot of recent, relevant data based on surveys done over the past five years.

Those numbers are fun to play with, and valuable for citizens, businesses and other entities that want to know more about a certain community, but the real value from the FactFinder software — once you’re comfortable using it — will come as the Census Bureau releases more and more data from the 2010 Census. The population numbers themselves have already revealed their worth for the state of Texas, which will get four more congressional seats when the new district lines are drawn; changes in the local numbers will have a big impact on our individual rural and urban communities, as well.

We do appreciate the new bells and whistles of the American Factfinder’s overhaul — like, for instance, the ability to see geographic patterns by overlaying the data on a map — and we look forward to using Census 2010 information in stories in this newspaper as it’s released over the coming months. A lot of people in our area did a lot of work to make sure everyone here was counted, and the numbers that are forthcoming are the fruits of their labor.