MCDC News and Updates

U.S. Census Bureau “Data Gem” offers a quick look at Geocorr

The U.S. Census Bureau’s Census Academy recently released a short video in its “Data Gems” series providing a brief overview about using MCDC’s Geocorr tool to create geographical correspondences. “Whether you are looking for estimates for the nation or a population count for your city block, geography is a critical element to using and accessing Census data. The State Data Center in Missouri [MCDC] developed a great resource to help us work with Census Bureau’s geographies. In this Data Gem, you will learn how to use the Geocorr to identify the geographies that make up your area.”

The Census Academy is the Bureau’s virtual hub for learning data skills, including visualization, population and housing tools, geography, and other topics. The Data Gems are a series of short “how-to” videos for data users looking to quickly enhance census data knowledge.

New data application shows population by age and demographics

A new MCDC data application, Population Estimates by Age and Demographics, provides population data at the state and county level for multiple age cohorts, data years, and demographic groups. These data are based on US Census populations with special “bridged race” categories created by the Census Bureau for the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).

The new application allows users to select one or more states (including counties, for single-state selections), data years (1990–2015), demographic groups, and age cohorts. There are two predefined age cohort sets, and users may also define up to 20 custom age cohorts, including both single year of age and multi-year age ranges. Age ranges may overlap.

This application complements our other population estimates apps, in particular the Population Trends app, which uses the same NCHS source data to compare population estimates between two data years. However, the Population Trends application is simpler, using only predefined age cohorts and a more limited set of data years and demographic groups. This new application offers more options and an Excel data export feature.

We hope you find this a useful tool. Please contact us with any problems, bugs, or suggestions.