Digging into Census Data
to Find Good Stories
SEAN LAHMAN – SLAHMAN@GANNETT.COM
ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE
SEANLAHMAN.COM/RESOURCES
Digging for Stories
Computer Assisted Reporting
“Journalists need to be data-savvy.
It used to be that you would get
stories by chatting to people in
bars, and it still might be that you'll
do it that way some times.
Tim Berners-Lee
Inventor of the World Wide Web
But now it's also going to be about
poring over data and equipping
yourself with the tools to analyse it
and picking out what's interesting.”
London, November 2010
Overview of the U.S. Census
Since 1790
Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among
the several States which may be included within this Union,
according to their respective Numbers…
10 Questions in 10 Minutes
•How many people live here?
•Age, gender, race of each
•Home ownership?
Data Release Schedule
 Dec 2010 Totals for all states
 February & March - Redistricting data for each state
 May – Demographic profiles
 June-August – Summary File 1
 Late 2011 / early 2012 – Summary File 2
The End…
Shortest. Census. Form. Ever.
The more
questions the
Census
Bureau asked,
the fewer
responses they
received.
American Community Survey
•Samples roughly 3
million people per year
•1-year, 3-year, and
5-year data released
•65,000 & 20,000
population sizes
“Census data” is really many data sets
 Decennial Census
 American Community Survey
 Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates
 American Housing Survey
 Consumer Expenditure Survey
 Public Use Microdata Samples
 Survey of Construction
 … and more
Levels of Complexity
 Age
 Gender
 Race
 Location
Geographical Groupings
Census Tracts
1790 Map
Getting the Data
http://www2.census.gov/census_2010/
American Fact Finder
AFF2
AFF3
AFF4
AFF5
AFF - new
AFF-new1
AFF-new2
AFF-new3
DataFerrett
http://thedataweb.org/ or http://dataferrett.census.gov
DF1
IRE
Other Resources
 New York State Data Center





http://esd.ny.gov/
Lewis Mumford Center - University of Albany
http://www.albany.edu/mumford/
University of Virginia
http://mapserver.lib.virginia.edu/
NYC Department of City Planning
http://gis.nyc.gov/dcp/pa/address.jsp
University of Michigan
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/
University of Minnesota (PUMS)
http://usa.ipums.org/usa/
Finding Story Ideas
"People don't really tell you
this, but often the amount of
time you spend finding a decent
story is more than the time it
takes to produce the story.“
-- Ira Glass
Civics for Journalists

Who is your audience?

Context

Need reliable numbers other than the Census
Bureau
Redistricting
 Redistricting is an intensely political process
 There is a vocabulary to redistricting

Section 5

Gerrymandering
 Huge opportunity to share historical info with
readers
 Communities of Interest
Population
 Urban sprawl, neighborhood decay, suburban flight
 Population density maps
 Growth/decline of population in neighborhoods
 Average household size (changes, comparisons
between neighborhoods)
Age and Gender
 (More detailed age breakdowns available in May)
 Graying or seeing a baby boom?
 Concentrations of older residents vs. children
 Gender differences in neighborhoods
 Generational conflicts (mixing of generations)
Race and Ethnicity
 (Top level race data in first release, more detail in
summer release)
 Look at race breakdowns by age (growth of minority
population tends to be bottom up)
 Surge in Hispanic population is a national story (14
to 35 million from 1980-2000)
 Segregation & diversity (see the Mumford Center at
SUNY Albany, or USAT diversity index)
Relationships
 Types of households (available in may)
 Seniors living alone
 Grandchildren living in household
 Consider mapping same-sex couples, single mothers
Housing
 Vacant housing units: what is the trend, and where?
 Owner-occupied vs. rentals
 How many people own their homes free and clear?
Where are they?
 Foreclosures… where and how many?
Other Ideas
 Redistricting on the local level
 Compare racial composition of school population
with citizens 18+ (voters)
 New ACS variables: healthcare coverage, degree
field, Veterans’ disability, marital history
 Housing double-up as an indicator of economic
impact
New York Ideas
 Look at the extent to which the recession, mortgage
meltdown slowed the migration away from NY.
 NY an example of state that is aging, but also seeing a
decline in child population (<18) 2000-10
 Also look at: % Children w/immigrant parents, children
speaking other than English, HS dropout rates for 1st
generation vs. 2nd generation Hispanics
 To what extent does # of seats impact fed $ compared to
seniority of your reps (and which committees they are on)
Demographic Resources
 Our Patchwork Nation – Dante Chinni
Identified clusters based on income, education, population
growth, unemployment, foreclosure rates, Starbucks vs.
Wal-Mart
 Who We Are Now – Sam Roberts
 The Big Sort – Bill Bishop
 A Field Guide to Sprawl – Dolores Hayden
American Community Survey
American Community Survey
American Community Survey
American Community Survey
American Community Survey
Data Visualization
Data
Shan
Visualization
Carter
“The last thing the internet needs is more data.”
Shan Carter, Interactive Graphics Editor
The New York Times
Data Visualization as a new medium
Protovis-1
Protovis-2
Science Fair Poster
Science Fair Poster 2
Martini Glass
Data Slide Show
Drill Down Story
Another Drill Down
Not Just for End Users
Demographic Explosion
 Crime data
 Campaign finance
 Voter registration
 Public payrolls
 Student test scores
Netflix
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/01/10/nyregion/
20100110-netflix-map.html
Mapping Tools
 Adobe Flash
 Google Maps API
 MAPublisher
 GEOCommons
 Social Explorer
 Census Bureau – Thematic and Reference Maps
Adobe Flash
Des Moines Register
James Wilkerson
http://data.desmoinesre
gister.com/dmr/iowacensus/redistrictingmap/
MAPublisher with Illustrator
Tampa Tribune
Kevin Wiatrowski
http://www2.tbo.com/static/maps/t
bocom-special-report-data-mapsmap-builder/
Google Maps API
GeoCommons
Social Explorer
http://SocialExplorer.com
Census Bureau – Maps Tool
Digging for Stories
Questions
SeanLahman.com/resources