Explores incorporating the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) data into the transportation planning processes at national, state, metropolitan, and local levels. The report examines ACS data and products and demonstrates their uses within a wide range of transportation planning applications.

Explores incorporating the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) data into the transportation planning processes at national, state, metropolitan, and local levels. The report examines ACS data and products and demonstrates their uses within a wide range of transportation planning applications.

How to parse, analyze, and incorporate census data This handy resource offers a reference guide for anyone interested in tailoring specific Census data to their needs. It includes computer coding (SAS v9.x) software for extracting targeted data from thousands of Census files, as well as primers on using online tools and mapping software for analyzing data. The book offers thorough coverage of all aspects of census data including its historical significance, suggestions for parsing housing, occupation, transportation, economic, health, and other data from the census, and much more. Offers an guide to analyzing Census data that can have an impact on financial markets as well as housing and economic data boding ill or well for the future of the economy It includes computer coding (SAS v9.x) scripts for extracting specific data from Census files Offers guidance on using thousands of variables from Census results released every year and American Community Survey data now released every year The only one-stop guide to analyzing and using annual and decennial Census data Bass offers a practical guide for leveraging information compiled by the Census to further research as well as business interests.

In June 2012, the Committee on National Statistics (sponsored by the U.S. Census Bureau) convened a Workshop on the Benefits (and Burdens) of the American Community Survey (ACS)-the detailed demographic and economic survey that began full-scale data collection in 2005 and that replaced the traditional "long form" in the 2010 census. ACS data are used by numerous federal agencies to administer programs, yet the ACS only moved from abstraction to reality for most users in 2010, when the first ACS estimates for small areas (based on 5 years of collected data) were made available. Hence, the workshop marked the opportunity to develop a picture of the breadth of the nonfederal user base of the ACS-among them, the media, policy research and evaluation groups (that distill ACS results for the media and broader public), state and local agencies, businesses and economic development organizations, and local and regional planning authorities-and to gather information on users' experiences with the first full releases of ACS products. In addition to covering innovative uses of the information now available on a continuous basis in the ACS, the workshop gave expression to the challenges and burdens associated with the survey: the time burden places on respondents, the challenges of explaining and interpreting estimates with increased levels of variability, and the privacy and confidentiality implications of some of the ACS content. Benefits, Burdens, and Prospects of the American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop provides a factual summary of the workshop proceedings and hints at the contours of the ACS user constituency, providing important input to the ongoing review and refinement of the ACS program.

TRB has released the third edition of Commuting in America. The report was prepared by author Alan E. Pisarski under a joint project of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) and the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP). Commuting in America III is one of the most comprehensive documents of its kind. Based on the latest census information available, it contains 155 figures, 79 tables, and some 100 "factlets" that tell the story of America's commuting trends and patterns over the last ten years. This publication will be a valuable reference for the transportation community--practitioners, researchers, and decision makers--who wish to understand how individual behavior and public policies have affected, and will continue to affect, commuting patterns. A press release and factsheets on information contained in Commuting in America III is also available.

"Census microdata are the confidential records of specific individuals and housing units from whom Decennial Census or American Community Survey responses have been obtained. The U.S. Census Bureau also draws a sample from the full set of microdata and makes these sampled records available in the Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) data products, so that users can develop their own tabulations. These data are being used by state departments of transportation (DOTs) and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) for studies, such as analyses of the commuting characteristics of population subgroups, and for supporting travel demand model and land use models."--Preface

The American Community Survey (ACS) is a major new initiative from the U.S. Census Bureau designed to provide continuously updated information on the numbers and characteristics of the nation's people and housing. It replaces the "long form" of the decennial census. Using the American Community Survey covers the basics of how the ACS design and operations differ from the long-form sample; using the ACS for such applications as formula allocation of federal and state funds, transportation planning, and public information; and challenges in working with ACS estimates that cover periods of 12, 36, or 60 months depending on the population size of an area. This book also recommends priority areas for continued research and development by the U.S. Census Bureau to guide the evolution of the ACS, and provides detailed, comprehensive analysis and guidance for users in federal, state, and local government agencies, academia, and media.