We're mostly numbers people here at EconData.Net,
but one of the best ways to convey some kinds of data is in the form
of a map. December's Site of the Month--Geodata.gov--is an
extremely useful resource for finding maps and data for the entire US
or just a community or neighborhood of interest. Geodata.gov
is a web-based portal for one-stop access to maps, data and other
geospatial services. Geodata.gov is part of the Geospatial
One-Stop initiative, one of the 24 OMB electronic-government
initiatives aiming to enhance government efficiency. Geodata.gov
provides a convenient place for starting with geographic data. You can
use an on-line map viewer to drill down from a national level view to
your neighborhood. At each successive level, the viewer adds increased
levels of detail, including at the lowest levels, particularly sharp
satellite imagery. The site also provides both a search function and a
subject-oriented index to a wide range of government produced and
maintained maps and geographic data. The site also offers a
notification service to alert you to newly available geographic data
that may be of interest to you. Geodata.gov also aims to be a
one-stop clearinghouse for data from a variety of sources. If
you have geospatial data, you can register and publish it on the
geodata.gov site.
http://www.geodata.gov/
One important influence on the economic health of local areas is the amount of money flowing back from Washington, DC to businesses, individuals, and local governments. The Census Bureau's Consolidated Federal Funds Report (CFFR) provides detailed data on federal spending in each state and county. The site provides a powerful query tool that enables you to search for federal spending for a specific geographic area, government agency or individual program, and data are available from 1993 to the present. The scope of expenditures included is quite broad, and encompasses income support programs like social security, the salaries paid to military and civilian federal employees, the dollar value of procurement contracts and even the amount of federally insured or guaranteed loans. Data can also be downloaded in spreadsheet format for more convenient analysis.
Two of our favorite sites have new and improved information, and if
you haven't seen them lately, you may want to pay a visit. The
Lewis Mumford Center for Comparative Urban Research has added to their
long list of interesting analyses of metropolitan areas. First,
for your convenience, you can now access a summary of all of their
principal findings about individual metropolitan areas (more than 300
in all) on a single page. In addition, since we profiled them as
the site of the month last December, they've been busy, producing new
reports summarizing occupational trends at the metropolitan
level, producing a new more detailed data series on rental and
owner occupied housing, and updating earlier reports on Muslims in
metropolitan America and the diversity of the nation's black
population. One fascinating new report is their examination of
occupational trends in metropolitan areas. They offer a
comparison of the occupational composition of employment in each US
metropolitan area in 1990 and 2000, a task complicated by changes in
both the definition of metro areas, and a fairly dramatic redefinition
of occupational codes between these two census years.
http://www.albany.edu/mumford/census/index.html
For advanced data users, the IPUMS project at the University of Minnesota has made available through its system the 1 percent and 5 percent samples from the Public Use Microsample (PUMS) data for the 2000 Census. IPUMS lets you extract microdata (observations of individuals or households) enabling you to compute statistics not published by the Census in its reports. For example, you can construct cross-tabulations of education by homeownership, or ethnicity by occupation. Data are available at the state and metropolitan level and for some smaller geographies as well. Free registration is required, and you'll likely want to have a statistical analysis package (and some experience using it) to get full value from the IPUMS data. If you want to dig deeper into Census 2000, this is a terrific resource: http://beta.ipums.org
For December, we offer a
seasonal set of new links that address the less fortunate in our
nation. Poverty, hunger, and homelessness, are real problems,
and data from a number of sources remind us of how much work needs to
be done.
Annie E. Casey Foundation
KIDS COUNT Census Data Online
Demographic data
regarding children and their families, for states, counties, cities,
metro areas, and Congressional districts. Topics
include age, sex,
race and ethnicity, and living arrangements. Based on Census 2000
short form data.
http://www.aecf.org/kidscount/census/
Census Bureau
Poverty Thresholds
Poverty thresholds
by size of family and number of children, 1980-latest year.
http://www.census.gov/hhes/poverty/threshld.html
Center on Hunger and Poverty, Brandeis University
Asset Index
State-by-state
comparative study of individual assets important for economic success.
Categories for the 39 indicators are job-based and related income
assets, human capital, and financial assets. (September 2002)
http://www.centeronhunger.org/pubs/adipubs.html
Food Insecurity and Hunger
Recent publications
measuring food insecurity, with data by state.
http://www.centeronhunger.org/pubs/fsipubs.html
State Profiles, Food Insecurity and Hunger
Percentage of people and households with food insecurity and hunger,
by state. Interactive map.
http://www.centeronhunger.org/states/fsistate.html
Child Trends
Child Trends DataBank
Access to available
state and local data relevant to child and youth well-being. General
topics include health; social and emotional
development; income,
assets and work; education and skills; demographics; and family and
community.
http://www.childtrendsdatabank.org/
Economic Policy Institute
Basic
Family Budget Studies by State
Links to
state-specific studies to determine basic family budgets.
http://www.epinet.org/Issueguides/poverty/budgetsbystate.html
U.S. Conference of Mayors
Hunger and Homelessness in America's Cities
Data and analysis on
hunger and homelessness in 27 cities, annual report (December 2002).
Previous reports available for 1999, 2000 and 2001.
http://www.usmayors.org/uscm/news/press_releases/documents/hunger_121802.asp
Happy Holidays from all of us here at EconData.Net!