Census Subject Tables

Analyzing US Census Data in Python

Lee Hachadoorian

Asst. Professor of Instruction, Temple University

Census Data Products

Decennial Census of Population and Housing
American Community Survey (annual)
Current Population Survey (monthly)
Economic Survey (5 years)
Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances

Course Prerequisites

Lists
Dictionaries
Package imports
Control flow, looping
List comprehensions
pandas DataFrames

Introduction to Census Topics

Decennial Census of Population and Housing

Demographics (age, sex, race, family structure)
Housing Occupancy and Ownership (vacant/occupied, rent/own)
Group Quarters Population (prisons, college dorms)

American Community Survey

Educational Attainment
Commuting (mode, time leaving, time travelled)
Disability Status

Structure of a Subject Table

A listing of variables in the subject table P5 - "Hispanic or Latino Origin by Race"

Subject Table to DataFrame

states.head()

               total          ...           hispanic_multiracial
Alabama      4779736          ...                          10806
Alaska        710231          ...                           6507
Arizona      6392017          ...                         103669
Arkansas     2915918          ...                          11173
California  37253956          ...                         846688

[5 rows x 17 columns]

Basic Data Visualization

import seaborn as sns

sns.set()

sns.barplot(
    x = "total", 
    y = states.index, 
    data = states
    )

Going further: Data Visualization with Seaborn

A plot showing bars proportional in length to the total population of each state.

Let's practice!

Analyzing US Census Data in Python