Census Data by Tract, Not City

[Anonymous User]

I'm using the data.census.gov site to search for 2020 census data for a particular city - Durham, NC - however, I'm only able to find the data aggregated to the city level. I need to find distributions of different equity factors as they vary across the city - preferably at the level of the census tract, but if that's not possible then whatever sub-city level is available. If such low level data is available yet for the 2020 census data. Does anyone know if this is available, and if so where I might find it?

[jcarlson · Accepted solution]

There's the Living Atlas layer for 2020 Tracts, if having the geometry is important. Do note, though, that the tracts and the city boundaries do not line up perfectly, so this will necessarily include other areas.

If all you need is the data, you could easily pull all this data from the Census's API. You should really read through their documentation to see particulars, but it's very fast once you know how to structure the query.

For example, here are all the census tracts in Durham County:

https://api.census.gov/data/2020/dec/pl?get=NAME&for=tract:*&in=state:37&in=county:063

There are a number of different supported geographies to search by via the API, one of them being a sub-division of consolidated cities. No guarantee that it will have what you want, but it's worth looking into.

[JayantaPoddar · Accepted solution]

I have just added the Census 2020 Redistricting Tract data (as mentioned by Josh) from ArcGIS Living Atlas to ArcGIS Pro, and filtered to Durham County. Here is how it looks.

[Anonymous User]

JayantaPoddar and jclarlson, that's exactly what I needed. Thank you both! And I don't expect the polygons to line up perfectly, they didn't in the 2010 census either.

[DianaCLavery]

Hi. There are also two layers in Living Atlas that are helpful here: USA Census 2020 Redistricting Incorporated Places, and Census Designated Places. Looks like Durham, NC is an incorporated place.

[Anonymous User]

Thank you, DianaCLavery.

I've managed to find all of the data directly related to populations stats that I needed, but I don't suppose you know if other equity information is available? I can't seem to find anything on median household income or no car households. Or population greater that 65 years of age in any of the datasets - or on the census website, assuming I'm using it correctly or looking in the right locations.

[DianaCLavery]

Thanks. The best source for those variables is the American Community Survey, since the detailed demographic and housing characteristics from the decennial census is still not released. Here's what we currently have:

* Median Income (including by age and race of householder) boundaries and centroids.
* Vehicle Availability boundaries and centroids.
* Population by sex and age boundaries and centroids, as well as Context for Senior Well-Being boundaries and centroids both have age 65+.
Here's the AGOL group that contains all our ACS layers, in case there's something else you might want to look for.

[Anonymous User]

I did come across some ACS data while looking around, but wasn't sure if that was the most up to date (I rarely work with census datasets). This is the information I was after, you're amazing. Thank you so much for all your help!

[DianaCLavery]

Any time! Happy to help.