December 19, 2012 — Meghan Overton, Data Services Planner, provided an update on U.S. Census programs including the following:
American Community Survey (ACS) — The ACS, an annual rolling survey that replaced the former “long form” survey in decennial censuses, provides estimates of how people live. ACS data is available every year and is released in the fall in 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year survey averages depending on a geographies size. The latest data released on December 6,2012 was 2006-2011, 5-year estimates.
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Special Tabulation — This is a special data set compiled by the Census Bureau designed to measure the effects of anti-discrimination laws and regulations in the workplace. Previously only available in the decennial data set, the 2006-2010 (5-year estimates) are the first updated release of the EEO data set since 2000, and the first time ACS data was used. Locally, data is available at the county level and place level (city or town) over 50,000.
Population Estimates Program (PEP) — PEP utilizes current data on births, deaths, and migration to calculate population change since the most recent decennial census to produce a time series of estimates. Data is available for U.S., states, counties, and places and includes total population, age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin.
2013 Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS) — Conducted annually, the BAS is used to update information about the legal boundaries and names of all governmental units in the United States. The Census Bureau uses the boundary information collected in the BAS to tabulate data for different census programs such as the ACS and PEP. Response forms are due to the Census Bureau before February 15, 2013, and boundary changes are due before March 1, 2013. The GIS staff in Muscatine and Scott Counties are handling the boundary review and corrections for those counties, and Bi-State can assist with reviewing boundaries for other areas in the region.
Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSA) — These are geographic entities defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) used by federal statistical agencies in collecting, tabulating, and publishing federal statistics. A metro area contains a core urban area of 50,000 or more population, and a micro area contains an urban core of at least 10,000 (but less than 50,000) population. Each metro or micro area consists of one or more counties and includes the counties containing the core urban area, as well as any
adjacent counties that are socially and economically connected with the urban core. Usually this is measured by commuting to work patterns. Updates to the current CBSAs will be released in 2013. Current delineations for the Bi-State Region include the Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL Metropolitan Statistical Area (Scott County, IA and Henry, Mercer, and Rock Island Counties, IL) and the Muscatine, IA Micropolitan Statistical Area (Louisa and Muscatine Counties, IA).
For more information on Census programs, please contact Ms. Overton at (309) 793-6302, ext. 126 or
