ACS Data Users Group

Hi everyone, I'm working with ACS 2013 5-year estimates at the census tract level. I am wondering if there is a way to search the FactFinder by Universe and, if so, how that can be done? I would like to create ratios using raw numbers that I'm finding in FactFinder tables, however, these come from different Universes (ie, the numerator I want to use is drawn from the "Civilian noninstitutionalized population" Universe, and the denominator I want to use is drawn from "Families"). Any thoughts, comments, or suggestions are appreciated! Thank you.

Hi Alicia,
One way you could search for different universes is to download the table shells for the 5-year estimates and then conduct a search in the Excel file, or simply scan the tables for the universes that you need. You can access the table shells through the Census Bureau's FTP site: www2.census.gov/.../

The table shell for the 2013 5-year file is called ACS2013_TableShells.xls

Thanks so much, Mark. This is exactly the type of information I needed. I appreciate you pointing me in the direction of the Table Shells.

Also, generally the universe for any given table is in the table itself - e.g. the "total" line at the top of the table.

I am curious as to why you want to use a numerator which is a part of the total civilian population and a denominator of families.

Thanks, Patty.

My original post may have been a bit unclear. I want to create a ratio where the numerator and denominator both come from the same universe. However, the two variables I had wanted to use were drawn from different universes, so I need a way to look for variables that come from the same universe (ie, both variables from the universe of families, or both from total civilian pop).

Alicia, I have attached a file that should help with your search. I modified the table sequence file so that each Table Title and the associated Universe comprise one record. I then sorted by Universe and Subject Area so you can identify variables that reside within your chosen Universe and use the Table ID to find the table.


[Updated on 6/19/2015 11:20 AM]

Just noticed that I did not trim all of the leading spaces from the Universe field so that the sorting went haywire. This has been corrected in the attached file.

Jeffrey, Thank you so much. This is incredibly helpful!

I just took a look at the file and think this could be really handy at some point. Thanks to Jeffrey for making this available to all!

I'm still hoping that we can articulate needs and best practices for the Census Bureau publishing more and better metadata than an Excel spreadsheet.

I started a Google Group for interested parties. We don't know what to do about it yet but if you want to discuss or just eavesdrop, sign up at groups.google.com/.../