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CITY 360: Urban Renewal or Change?(BMC)

Cities 360: Urban Renewal or change?, Spring 2022, Prof. Jennifer Hurley

Census information and Mapping Tools

Visualizing Census Data Tutorial

Before you start using Social Explorer or PolicyMap, complete the following tutorials to help you learn the programs. 

For Bryn Mawr students: https://brynmawr.libwizard.com/f/CITY185_Census_BMC

For Haverford students: https://brynmawr.libwizard.com/f/CITY185_Census_Haverford

Census vs. American Community Survey

The Decennial Census occurs every 10 years and collects demographic data on (age, sex, race, Hispanic or Latino origin, household relationships, housing tenure (owner- and renter-occupied housing units). Other categories of data (education, income and poverty, transportation and other topic) may have been collected in Decennial Census prior to 2010. In 2010 the US Census no longer includes this information instead it is collected annually through the American Community Survey (ACS) in 1- and 5-year estimates. Questions on the US Census (and how they record the data) change so be careful when comparing data from different years.

All census data is available at data.census.gov. For data visualization tools associated with the census data, the easiest place to start is Social Explorer or PolicyMap.  

When in doubt, you can always ask a librarian for help.