What's New - August 2003
Site of the Month: MelissaData's Lookup Directory
August's Site of the Month is a real gem: MelissaData's lookup directory, an
incredibly useful, well thought-out reference page with excellent data tools. On
a single, clearly organized page, you'll find links to zip code tax records, zip
code and county demographics, non-profit organizations by zip code, campaign
contributors (with names and amounts) also by zip codes. There are also great
GIS lookup tools as well: find the county, FIPS code or metro area for any zip
code or street address or phone number, list all the zip codes within a radius
of a particular point, look up the number of occupants in a zip code. MelissaData is a commercial firm that sells a variety of data, including direct
mail lists of businesses and households, as well as offering software and data
analysis services. All the tools in the lookup directory, however, are
available free. Be sure to bookmark this site:
http://www.melissadata.com/Lookups/index.htm
BEA Site Re-Design
A site for sore eyes! After years and years with a dowdy interface, one of the
three biggest federal data agencies has re-designed its website. The Bureau
of Economic Analysis (BEA) has long been a dependable provider of time series
regional data on personal income, gross state product and employment. In July,
they premiered a new look for the website that is not only attractive, but
functional. You'll find an A-Z index of site features, a glossary, and a
redesigned navigation system that lets you see easily where you are. Same great
data, much easier to use. Take a look for yourself.
http://www.bea.gov
If you like the new design (or have other comments) be sure and let BEA know:
http://www.bea.gov/bea/about/about_redesign.htm
2002 State Personal Income Available
And while BEA has been busy redesigning their website, they haven't stopped
crunching numbers. The annual state personal income data for 2002 are now
available. Nationally, personal income grew 2.8 percent in 2002, and grew at a
faster rate in 38 of the 50 states. You'll find all the details on the
beautiful new BEA website at:
http://www.bea.gov/bea/newsrel/SPINewsRelease.htm
HUD releases 2004 Fair Market Rents By State
One of the biggest sources in variation in the cost of living among states and
communities is differences in the price of rental housing. Accurate, timely
information on rent differences can be hard to come by, but one useful resource
for benchmarking rents is the Department of Housing and Urban Development's fair
market rents data series. HUD surveys local markets to estimate current local
housing prices, which are used in setting eligibility standards for housing
assistance programs. Data are available at the county and metropolitan level,
and HUD estimates fair market rents for apartments of different sizes (listed
by number of bedrooms). You can navigate to state reports in .pdf format through a clickable map:
http://www.huduser.org/datasets/fmr/fmr2004F/2004map.html
New Links Added
As many Americans hit the road for a summer holiday this month, August's new links focus on transportation topics.
Bureau of Economic Analysis
Journey to Work
Number of commuters from a county of residence to a county of work, for 1970-latest Decennial Census.
http://www.bea.gov/bea/regional/reis/jtw/
Bureau of Transportation Statistics
Intermodal Transportation Database
Infrastructure, system performance, economics and finance. Data available for viewing, download, mapping.
http://www.itdb.bts.gov/
Federal Transit Administration
National Transit Database
Annual data tables and profiles for public transit systems.
http://www.ntdprogram.com/NTD/ntdhome.nsf/Docs/Publications?OpenDocument
National Center for Statistics & Analysis, NHTSA
Highway Fatalities and Injuries
Access to variety of data sources on highway fatalities and injuries, by state.
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/departments/nrd-30/ncsa/
National Safety Council
Seat Belt Use by Teenagers
http://www.nsc.org/news/nr071502.htm
Surface Transportation Policy Project
Transportation Facts
Statistics on various aspects of transportation, for states and metro areas. Topics include pedestrian safety,
regional congestion, federal transportation spending, and household transportation choices and spending.
http://www.transact.org/states/default.asp
Transportation Action Network
Effects of sprawl on household transportation expenses, pedestrian fatalities, and aggressive driving.
http://www.transact.org/
The Road Information Program
Analysis of federal data regarding highway infrastructure, traffic safety, and congestion, by state.
http://www.tripnet.org/
EconData.Net in the News
We've gotten several waves of new registrants for the EconData.Net website in
the past month due to news coverage about the site. Sree Sreenivasan of
Columbia writes in Poynter.com--a journalist's guide to the web--about covering
the economy, and lists EconData.Net as one of four leading resources for
reporting on economic issues. You can see his comments at:
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=32&aid=42746
Bob Landauer, long-time columnist for the Portland, Oregonian, gave his readers some tips on staying on top of the economy and other current events. He called EconData.Net a "super site" with a "diamond mine" of links to socioeconomic data. Bob's column appears at:
Thanks Sree and Bob!