Census 2010 Power Search Example: A New Columbia HUD Section 202 Address Search Produces Results for 11 Geographic Levels.

The American Fact Finder data site for the 2010 Census provides a number of ways to retrieve data.

I recently discovered that the "Search by Address" features provides a powerful way of retrieving data for a number of different geographic levels at once. This can help you learn more about both the NEAR neighborhood for your address AND the other larger geographies in which your address is located, including political boundaries. 

For my test I used the address for a Northwest Housing Alternatives HUD 202 elderly project at HAP's New Columbia development in North Portland. The address for Trenton Terrace is 4720 North Trenton Street Portland. 97203.

The results of that search are in the one page PDF table HERE. 

Some observations: 

1. This search produced 22 pieces of race/ethnicity/housing data for 11 different geographies.
2. The smallest geography was at the BLOCK level, with 212 residents.
3. The largest geography was at the Oregon level. 
4. In between geographies included Census Tract block group, Census Track, City, County, Oregon Legislative District, School District, and US Congressional District.
5. At the BLOCK level, the black population was greater than the white population; at the Census Tract level the black population percentage had been cut in half. 
6. The Hispanic population percentage was slightly higher at the Census Tract level than the BLOCK level  and twice as high as the County Hispanic population percentage.
7. The vacancy rate in the BLOCK group was 3.8%, and 4.9% at the Census Tract level. That compares to a City of Portland vacancy rate of 6.4%, and a statewide vacancy rate of 9.3%.
8. While the current Census 2010 data available is limited to population and occupancy data, replicating that search in the future will allow access to more DETAILED census data. My advice is that learning how to do an AFF address search NOW will save time in the future as the pace of data released picks up.

How I Did My Trenton Terrace Search

I have outlined the steps I used to conduct my address search below. While these steps may be useful, I have found the best way of learning how to retrieve Census data is through repetition.

1. In the AFF website HERE, in the left pane I selected "Geographies"
2. This opened a "Select Geographies" dialog box.
3. I then choose the "address" tab at the top and entered the Trenton Terrace address in the box .
4. After a minute waiting for data to be returned, a new "Search Results" box opened with two panes. In the left pane I clicked individually on EACH of the 11 geographies of interest to me (this selected these geographies).
5. I then went BACK to the LEFT pane and selected "Topics", which opened a "Search Results" dialogue box. I then selected each data item of interest. In my case it was "occupancy status, race, Hispanic or Latino by race, and geographic identifiers". I then selected "download" at the top of the "Search Results"
6. The file was downloaded to my PC, I opened the file, and saved it as an Excel file. I copied the original worksheet to insure I had a copy I could come back to and in the copied worksheet I made my edits to remove the columns of information that I didn't need.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.