LEBANON, Va. – Data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau can be useful to businesses, nonprofit agencies and individuals, a census official said in a public meeting Wednesday.
Karen Wesley, who specializes in education and outreach for the bureau, spoke to a handful of people, mostly local government employees, at the Russell County Conference Center on how to access the data.
“It is telling us who we are as a country,” Wesley said of the data. “This is who we are, and by knowing who you are, you know what you need or where you are going, and it’s important to know.”
In addition to the population count conducted every 10 years, the bureau does ongoing data collection, Wesley said, through the American Community Survey, a more-detailed look at 250,000 households every month that is like “the moving video of the country.”
Among the data that people can access from the bureau are county and town populations, comparisons among localities, and information on such things as health care, industry, average incomes, family structures and even the percentage of people who lack indoor plumbing.
“You can identify the top 10 industries or the top 10 types of jobs,” she said. “It gives you an idea where the jobs are.”
She said nonprofits and other local agencies can use statistics to demonstrate the need for a certain service or program in the community. Businesses can use the numbers to estimate the work force they might have available, and in what geographic areas.
Localities can use the data to help with planning, and individuals can use it to learn about their communities, or the crime rate, demographics and likely job prospects in an area they’re considering for relocation.
As for the 2010 census, Regional Director William Hatcher, whose area includes Virginia, Tennessee, the Carolinas and Kentucky, said the door-knocking is done as of this week.
“The counting part of the census is over,” Hatcher said. “We’ll soon start closing down our local census offices, so the counting is over with, and now we’re aggregating the data to release it.”
The first release of data will be a population count for each state, which must be given to the U.S. president by the end of the year, he said.
In the spring, more detailed numbers will be released that list information by locality and by areas as small as a city block, he said. This data will include such things as age, race, gender, ethnicity and the proportion of owners to renters.
“That’s when the data comes out about how many people live in Bristol and all the different communities in and around Bristol,” he said.
“That data’s being used to re-draw all the Congressional lines, the state legislative lines, city council lines and so forth based on population.”
The bulk of the census data will come out in 2011, he said, though a few sets of data will come out later. And even though the census is complete, he said, the bureau continues with other surveys throughout the year.
dmccown@bristolnews.com | (276) 791-0701
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