The Department of City Planning (DCP) recently launched a major update to its online New York City Census FactFinder tool that enables web visitors to create profiles for customized New York City geographies using the latest available socioeconomic and housing data from the American Community Survey (ACS). The City’s Census FactFinder application is unique in that no other entity provides FREE access to complete ACS profiles for custom geographies, including information on data reliability.
Previously, the online application queried information only from the decennial Census, which in 2010 became more limited to a “short form” survey that included sex, race, ethnicity and housing units. This tool has been widely used by the public, students, government entities, researchers, non-profits, and journalists. NYC Census FactFinder now features in-depth ACS data on demographic, social, economic, and housing characteristics with more frequent (annual) releases. The ability to mine this data greatly enhances the ability of users to assess the needs of specific populations and neighborhoods. This new and improved version enables users to research information such as household income, places of birth, English language proficiency, commuting patterns, health insurance coverage, vehicle availability, educational attainment, housing values, rent, and much more for customized geographies.
See below on how to use this new and interactive mapping application to best serve your needs:
Step 1: Choose whether you want to profile census tract(s) or a Neighborhood Tabulation Area (NTA). (A NTA is smaller than a community district but larger than a census tract.)
Step 2: Select a NTA or specific tract(s) by zooming in on the map or by accessing this information from the side drop-down panel which allows you to search for a location by address, intersection, place of interest, census tract, subway station, or neighborhood.
Step 3: Once a geographic area is selected, you can view the 2010 Census Profile tab for the full demographic profile or see how these data have changed in the selected area over the past decade, from 2000 to 2010. In addition to the content from the decennial censuses, you can now choose the ACS 2009-2013 tab to access four sub-sections: Demographics, Social, Economic, and Housing.
If you change the geography of your query, the results are recalculated on-the-fly with data reliability information displayed for the new geography.
To start using the Census FactFinder application, click here.