PPM

AMERICAN FACTFINDER AND SOCDS PROCEDURAL PROTOCOLS

American Factfinder

(http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml)

To get started, left-click on “Advanced Search” and then the “Show me all” box.

I. To retrieve local economic data1:

STEP 1: Left-click (LC) on the Geographies box (left-side menu box).

STEP 2: Select (LC) “Economic Place” from the “Select a geographic type” dropdown menu.

STEP 3: Select (LC) your state.

STEP 4: Scroll down the list of places and select yours. Then LC on the box “Add to your Selections” box (this will send the place to the Your Selections box on the left). NOTE: If you are doing several cities in the same state, you can select them all by holding down the Ctrl key when you LC for each of the cities. To add a city from another state, simply select the new state and then select the city.

STEP 5: LC on the Industry Codes box.

STEP 6: Select the desired code (suggested: All Available Codes)

STEP 7: LC on the “Add” icon above (this will send the selection to the Your Selections box).

STEP 8: Close the Select Industry Codes box.

STEP 9: LC on the desired table, file or document title (suggested: EC0700A1).

STEP 10: LC on the “View” icon above.

STEP 11: View the table, file or document.

II. To retrieve demographic (and some economic) data:

STEP 1: Left-click (LC) on the Geographies box (left-side menu box).

STEP 2: Select (LC) “Place” (or county or zip code or whatever level of interest – do not select “economic place” for demographic data) from the “Select a geographic type” dropdown menu.

STEP 3: Select (LC) your state.

STEP 4: Scroll down the list of places and LC on yours. Then LC on the box “Add to your Selections” box at the bottom of the box (this will send the place to your Selections Box on the left).

STEP 5: Close the “Select Geographies” box.

STEP 6: Tables will appear. The first four tables contain much useful data, so it is usually worthwhile to check these out before you do a more detailed data search. If these don’t contain the data you need, proceed to STEP 7.

STEP 7: LC on the Topics box.

STEP 8: LC on one of the listed topics and review the list of sub-topics. LC on one that best matches your data needs and select from among the next list of sub-topics (this will send the topic to your Selections Box).

STEP 9: Close the “Select Topics” box.

STEP 10: Select the desired table, file or document title (LC on the selection box).

STEP 11: LC on the “View” icon immediately above.

STEP 11: View the file.

STATE OF THE CITIES DATA SYSTEMS PROTOCOL (SOCDS)

(http://www.huduser.org/portal/datasets/socds.html)

This protocol example demonstrates how to find highest educational attainment data for residents of Clyde City, which is a suburban place in the Abilene Metropolitan Statistical Area.

STEP 1: Left-click (LC) on the Census and ACS box

STEP 2: Scroll down and LC on “State or Core Based Statistical Area (2000 Metropolitan Standard)

STEP 3: LC on Abilene in the “Core based statistical area” box.

STEP 4: LC on the Next Screen box below.

STEP 5: LC on Clyde City from the list of communities in the Abilene metro area.

STEP 6: LC on the Select Data Table box.

STEP 7: LC on the Educational Attainment box.

STEP 8: View the data table.

1American Factfinder can be a bit tricky. Part of its trickiness stems from the fact that some data can be viewed as either economic or demographic data. An example would be

employment, which characterizes the people in a community as well as its businesses. As a

rule, the best place to start your search for any local data that could be either economic or

demographic is at the place geography. If you can’t find it there, try economic place.

Key place tables with demographic and economic data are DP02, DP03, and DP05.

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