Census Explorer

Go to Census Explorer

Make new discoveries about your neighborhood through the power of American Community Survey statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau’s new mapping tool, Census Explorer.

Choose from eight different topics, including median household income, labor force participation and percent of the population 65 and older and explore these statistics for states, counties and census tracts.

Census Explorer includes not only the latest American Community Survey five-year statistics (2008-2012) but also information from the 1990 and 2000 censuses, so you can see how your community has changed over the past two decades.

Replacing the decennial census long form, the American Community Survey provides timely annual statistics to communities throughout the nation.

Topics currently available in Census Explorer:

• Total population
• Percent 65 and older
• Foreign-born population percentage
• Percent of the population with a high school degree or higher
• Percent with a bachelor’s degree or higher
• Labor force participation rate
• Home ownership rate
• Median household income

SAMPLING VARIABILITY

The data from the 1990 and 2000 Decennial Censuses and the 2008-2012 American Community Survey are based on a sample and are subject to sampling variability.

For more information on sampling and estimation methods, confidentiality protection, and sampling and nonsampling errors, please see:

For 1990 Census:
http://www.census.gov/prod/cen1990/cp2/cp-2-1.pdf

For 2000 Census:
http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf3.pdf

For 2008-2012 ACS:
http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Downloads/data_documentation/Accuracy/MultiyearACSAccuracyofData2012.pdf

Q&As

Which boundaries does Census Explorer use for the maps?

Each decennial census map uses the boundaries that existed in the year the data were collected. So, the map for the 1990 Census uses 1990 boundaries, the map for the 2000 Census uses 2000 boundaries. The ACS 2008-2012 5-year data use 2012 boundaries.

Do you plan to add more topics to Census Explorer beyond the current eight topics?

We'd like to add more topics to this tool in the future, depending on resources and how well this first version is received. This is a pilot. Census Explorer uses easy and familiar mapping tools to let anyone zoom in or enter the address for the data they'd like to see. Our goal is to make data accessible to anyone. That's why we've launched tools such as our API and mobile apps.

I see some differences in the geographic details between the different maps, beyond boundary changes. Why?

As technology has changed over time, so has the sophistication of our mapping capabilities and TIGER (Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing) database. Our newer maps include more features such as streams and small lakes that weren't visible in the 1990 or 2000 maps.

I want to download the data. How can I do that?

The "data" link in the bottom right-hand corner will take you to American Factfinder. From there you can access and download the Census 2000 and ACS data. You can access 1990 Census data from: http://www.census.gov/prod/www/decennial.html

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