Amerian FactFinder - Kay Christensen, Augustana College

http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en

Path:

http://www.census.gov > American FactFinder link on left-hand menu

Why it's a Good Site:

1. Convenient way to access census data. "Your source for population, housing, economic, and geographic data."
2. Visual display of information - thematic maps.
3. What's new section: Facts for Features.

Its Limitations:

1. Data not accessible when AFF is down.
2. Reference map boundaries sometimes difficult to discern.
3. Need to download tables in order to copy/paste.
4. Fact Sheets only available at certain geographic levels.

Substitutes When it's Down:

From a Feb. 2004 email from Andrea Sevetson of the Census Bureau to the GOVDOC-L - http://lists1.cac.psu.edu/archives/govdoc-l.html - list:

1. Printed (pdf) "Special Reports" or "Census Briefs" prepared by Census demographers. They have analytical material and many tables; at the state level. There are some on race, families, income, education and many other topics; see http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/briefs.html.
2. Demographic Profiles for all 50 states, counties, places (cities and towns) and some other geographic types through the Census 2000 Gateway, under the heading "Data Highlights". The DP1-General Demographic Characteristics has age, sex and race data; the DP2 -Social Characteristics has education, ancestry, marital status data; the DP3 - Economic Characteristics has data on income, employment, and poverty; and the DP4 Housing Characteristics has data on the number of rooms in a housing unit, the costs of housing, etc. See: http://censtats.census.gov/pub/Profiles.shtml
3. For Excel or pdf tables for many different types of data, see http://www.census.gov/census2000/states/us.html and the individual pages under "Census Data Releases" on the Gateway homepage: http://www.census.gov/main/www/cen2000.html The Rankings and Comparisons Tables (from Census 2000) have many tables in pdf or spreadsheet format; see http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/tablist.html.
4. American Community Survey data. It has basically the same data as the Census 2000, for the years 2000, 2001, and 2002. The data is not available for small areas, but the 2002 data covers the larger cities and counties; see http://www.census.gov/acs/www/.
5. Statistical Abstract available at: http://www.census.gov/statab/www/.
6. For 1990 Census data see http://www.census.gov/main/www/cen1990.html and for tables: http://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/90_shortformsubjects.html
7. Local and regional sources for the census data who have downloaded and reformatted the data into their own systems. The link to these sites is: http://www.census.gov/dmd/www/groupcnr.htm.

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International Data Base (IDB) - Amy West, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idbnew.html

Path:

http://www.census.gov > http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/ - in People section > International Data Base link under "INFORMATION RESOURCES FOR THE WORLD"

Why it's a Good Site:

1. The International Data Base (IDB) contains statistical tables, including projections, of demographic, and socio-economic data for 227 countries and areas of the world.
2. Time coverage is 1950 - 2050.
3. Tables and variables are listed on http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idbvar.html

Its Limitations:

1. Lousy Labeling - "Online Access" - because the other options are not? No...
2. Lousy Descriptions - "Display data for selected countries." and "Display data for selected tables, countries, and years." describe what are actually two quite distinct options.
3. Haven't ever been able to get the desktop software to download and run properly.

Its Quirks:

1. Under "Year Selection" you have to be sure to click in the right radio button or the years you've highlighted below will not be displayed.

Substitutes When it's Down

None that are free. UNSTATS provides some of this information, as does World Development Indicators, but not with the same coverage or depth.

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Twin Cities Data Doorway - - Helen Burke, Minneapolis Public Library

http://www.crcworks.org/doorway/portal.html

Path:

http://govpubs.lib.umn.edu > http://govpubs.lib.umn.edu/census/index.phtml > under "On the Web"

Why it's a Good Site:

1. It is focused on data that's specific to the Twin Cities metro area, and the brainchild of analysts in the Twin Cities that use the data. Allan Malkis, previously of the Humphrey Institute at the U of MN's School of Public Affairs and previously the head of the Urban Coalition, presented the Data Doorway to the Association of Public Data Users conference in Washington, DC, and received strong praise. One professor who specializes in community indicators nationally praised the Data Doorway, saying she knew of no other effort in the US that was based on coordinating existing resources.
   
   
2. It presents data in terms that follow the tried and true guideline: determine your geographic area first, then look for all the data available at that level.
3. The Data Doorway, a one-stop source for neighborhood and community data in the Metro region, is designed to help neighborhood residents gain easy access to community data.

Substitutes When It's Down

1. Minnstats - http://www.minnstats.state.mn.us/data.html
2. Hennepin County Demographics via HenMap - http://www.opdsurveys.org/henmaphome/henmap.htm
3. City of Minneapolis's Census Web page - http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/citywork/planning/Census2000/index.asp

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