ACS Data Users Group

Hello,

I am fairly new to using the ACS so this may be a simple question but I am getting frustrated. I couldn't find ACS-5 year estimates for total population (table B01003) in some lock groups in Miami-Dade County. I have tried using the SummaryFileDataRetrievalTool_V1.0.0.14.2.xlsm but apparently this is not active since 2015.

I have downloaded the Florida_Tracts_Block_Groups_Only.zip which has hundreds of documents in text format but I can't figure out which one stands for the tables or variables I am interested in, namely table B01003.

Please help. I have been reading the technical documents but I can't figure this out.

Best,

Samuel Olah

The new Census data site only goes back to 2013 5 YR ACS data.

Could you use 2010 Decennial data for this? If you're trying to compare it to 2020 data, you are going to run into issues with new block groups being in the 2020 data that were not in earlier years.

That is the problem, I am trying to compare 2010, 2015, and 2020.

You need to use a crosswalk to convert the 2010 and 2015 geographies into the 2020 geographies. iPUMs has one located here: https://www.nhgis.org/geographic-crosswalks

I haven't used it yet, so I cannot comment on how easy/difficult it is to use.

Others might be able to help you with this.

Thank you, I would have to figure out how to do that. Do you know if there is another way of viewing in Excel?

In addition to those crosswalks, IPUMS NHGIS also provides geographically standardized time series for 2010 census units. Through the NHGIS Data Finder, you can select and download a "time series table" that includes 1990-2020 populations of the 2010 census block groups. Then you wouldn't need to use the crosswalks.

For 2015 estimates, I'd recommend using 2013-2017 ACS block group data, not the "2015 ACS" because the 2011-2015 period is centered on 2013, and 2013-2017 is centered on 2015. (The 5-year ACS estimates are not estimates of the last year's characteristics; they're based on a pooled sample across all 5 years, corresponding roughly to average characteristics for the entire period.) You can get 2013-2017 ACS data from NHGIS as well. The block groups in 2017 ACS data mostly align with the 2010 block groups in the time series, but there are a few exceptions, as summarized on the NHGIS crosswalks page.

We have this data at MCDC.

Start at https://mcdc.missouri.edu/cgi-bin/uexplore?/data/acs2010/base_tables_5yr

For table B01003, you need the "ustabs00_075yr.sas7bdat" dataset (contains tables B00001 through B07999)

In the query form, you want just block groups, so create a filter: sumlev = 150

You also just want Miami-Dade County, so another two filters: state = 12 and county = 086

In the section where you choose variables, select all of your B01001 vars in the right box. (for some reason we don't have B01003 in this collection.)

This should give you what you need.

Thank you. I downloaded the Dexter file but I am not sure how to view the estimates according to the corresponding block groups.

You also need to select geographic identifiers in the left box. Geoid and areaname should suffice.

Thank you.

I am trying to use the Summary File Retrieval tool to view 2010 ACS data for selected Block Groups in Miami-Dade County but it does not work, is there a way of bypassing this?