Adapted from the tutorial Accessing Census Data (MS Word format) by Barbara Ronningen, Minnesota State Demographic Center.

How do I use Datanet?

• Go to 2000 Census SF1 and SF3: report and mapping menu
• Choose a report or a profile
• If a report, choose a geographic level, e.g., state or county and click on "Enter choice".
• If a map, choose at least a geographic level and category and click on "Quick Map".

Datanet Practice

Getting Historical Population Data For Multi-county Cities

1. Go to 2000 Census SF1 and SF3: report and mapping menu
2. Highlight "Population in 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000"
3. Click on "Report".
4. Highlight "Aggregated custom-made area"
5. Click on "Enter choice".
6. Hold down the Ctrl key to select St. Cloud's counties: Benton, Sherburne and Stearns
7. Click on "Select ounty".
8. Name the area in the box at the top right of the screen "St. Cloud."
9. In the box for each county, highlight "St. Cloud" .
10. Click on "Get report".

Population Data Mapping and Downloading in Datanet

1. To map population data, choose the profile you're interested in and click on Mapping.
2. Highlight the geography you want to map, then the year and finally the category.
3. Click on Quick Map to get a default map of the whole state of Minnesota.
4. Click on a county to display just that county.
   Datanet Mapping does NOT map aggregated areas as such, although the components of aggregated areas will appear on maps of the appropriate geographic type (e.g. MN by MCD will show the components of the city of St. Cloud in the counties in which they appear).
5. To download the data for all geographic areas, click Download in the mapping module.
6. Click Download on the next screen.

Notes:

• Data will be sorted in ascending order.
• The default geography is "MN by County."
• Data can only be downloaded for one year at a time
• Population data for 1970 and 1980 is available only for counties.
• If you have selected a year for which Datanet has no data, a message saying "Data Not Available" will appear on the Download screen.