Accurate and reliable population data is essential as we strive to understand our communities and plan for the future. From determining congressional districts to allocating resources for schools and healthcare, population data drives decision-making at all levels of government and beyond.
In this blog post, we'll take a closer look at four commonly used sources of population data: the Decennial Census, American Community Survey (ACS), Population Estimate Program (PEP), and Connecticut Department of Public Health (CT DPH) Population Estimates. Continue reading to learn more about these sources.
To protect respondents’ privacy, for the 2020 Decennial Census the Census Bureau is using a modern disclosure avoidance approach called differential privacy. In brief, differential privacy adds statistical noise—small random additions or subtractions—into the data to reduce the risk that someone could reidentify any person or household.
In this post, we will: (1) describe how differential privacy is applied to the 2020 Decennial Census data; (2) review the Census Bureau’s guidance for 2020 Decennial Census data users; (3) provide an overview of the summary metrics file released by the Census Bureau; and (4) discuss some illustrative examples of the amount of error introduced to certain counts as reported in the summary metrics file.
During our 10th Annual CTData Conference, Bridge the Data Gaps, we explored data gaps and solutions in early childhood, Black business ownership, and more. You can see more conference videos and photos here.
During our 10th Annual CTData Conference, Bridge the Data Gaps, we explored how data can be used as a tool that advances equity and respects those who have experienced racism through data collection and its use.
CTData’s Hartford Data Collaborative and the Hartford Youth Data Fellows held a Data Walk on Monday, May 15, 2023 from 4:30-6:30pm at CTData’s office in downtown Hartford. Eight Youth Fellows presented data on children & youth, community safety, education, and mental health services: Yandell Alvarez, Naieem Kelly, Nasere Lewin, Syree Little, Rhaili-Em Lowe, Isaiah Perez, Khamari Thornton, and Tatiana Watson. Members of the community, including representatives from community-based organizations, local businesses, and foundations, attended and engaged in discussions with the youth about their findings.
The United States Census Bureau’s Population Estimate Program released its Vintage 2022 population estimates for towns in Connecticut for July 1, 2022. Bridgeport remains in the top spot, with the highest population at 148,377 people (an increase of 0.14%), but Mansfield’s population data showed the largest increase. Click to explore more.
In 2020, the Census Bureau made some important changes to how they collect and process race and ethnicity data. These changes were intended to better capture the increasingly diverse racial and ethnic identities of the U.S. population, while still following the 1997 Federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity. However, these changes also raise some questions about the validity of the Census Bureau’s “Two or More Races” classification in 2020, particularly for Hispanic and Latino individuals. They also complicate comparisons with race data from before 2020, making it difficult to assess change over time. In this blog post, we discuss the consequences of the Census Bureau’s recent changes to how they collect and process race and ethnicity data, as well as the proposed revisions to the OMB standards for the classification of federal data on race and ethnicity.
Today, the Census Bureau released the first postcensal population estimates for Connecticut’s nine planning regions. These nine planning regions are the new county-equivalent geographic units that the Census Bureau will be using for Connecticut (see our earlier blog post on this topic). This is the first Census Bureau data product to be released using Connecticut’s new county-equivalent geographic units.
At CTData, we often receive questions about changes in migration patterns before and after 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic. Using three data sources from the U.S. Census Bureau, this blog post will look at recent migration patterns in Connecticut.
Ten youth from Hartford joined the Hartford Data Collaborative this past January to serve as the first full class of Hartford Youth Data Fellows. This program is a follow-up to the Hartford Youth Researchers program from the spring of 2022 and is part of CTData’s mission to empower an ecosystem of data users. This year’s group is larger than 2022’s class and includes seven high school seniors and three college students.
At CTData, we are continuing to update our geographic resources following the changes to census tracts and census blocks for the 2020 Census. We’ve released three new crosswalks: one for census tracts, one for census blocks, and an updated 5 Connecticuts crosswalk.
February 2023 marks the 96th year of celebrating the incredible accomplishments and contributions of Black and African American residents nationwide. Since 1976, the month of February has been designated as Black History Month (whereas prior to 1976, this event was celebrated for a week). In this post, we will highlight various data facts and achievements to celebrate our Black and African American residents in Connecticut.
In February 2022, we released a shocking analysis of the eviction crisis in Connecticut diving into topics such as the disparities of evictions of certain demographics, along with analysis of representation in court and the outcomes depending on representation. We are working on an updated analysis with evictions data through the end of 2022, which will be released sometime in the next few months. This blog post will provide a general overview of eviction trends from 2017 through the end of 2022.
The Hartford Data Collaborative (HDC) provided the City of Hartford’s Department of Families, Children, Youth, and Recreation (DFCYR) with the first report on its investment in programs for children and youth starting in the summer of 2021 and continuing through May 30, 2022 (FY2022). Hartford’s UNITY Program provides grants to local program providers serving Hartford youth and is funded by the federal American Rescue Plan Act and is designed to engage children after the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic. This project was the first in Hartford to require providers receiving over $5,000 in grant funds to join the Hartford Data Collaborative and share their data with HDC.
The American Community Survey (ACS) is administered by the United States Census Bureau on an ongoing basis, from January through December of every year. The 2021 ACS 5-year estimates (covering the period from January 2017 through December 2021) were released on December 8, 2022. As usual, we have created an interactive tool for you to explore the data.
Our interactive tool covers a variety of topics, including economic, demographic, education, language, and many other data topics disaggregated by town along with comparisons to previous 5-year periods.
The 2020 Decennial Census faced unprecedented challenges: the COVID-19 pandemic, political interference, natural disasters, and the implementation of a new approach to privacy protection called differential privacy. We invited two experts to share what this means for using Census 2020 data. Amy O’Hara is a Research Professor in the Massive Data Institute and Executive Director of the Federal Statistical Research Data Center at Georgetown University. Elizabeth Garner is the State Demographer at the Colorado State Demography Office.
Each year, the Census Bureau produces population estimates for each state and county that are different than the ACS t-year survey that many of us are used to. These are called Population Estimates, and these are the official measures of population & housing units between decennial censuses. In this conference session, you will learn about the methodology that undergirds these annual data and learn about the ways you can access the data through the US Census Bureau.
The Longitudinael-Employer Household Dynamics Data (LEHD) Products combines state administrative data with census data to understand various aspects of the workforce. During this conference session, we learned about several of the LEHD products, and learned how to use them. Watch the video to learn how you can use these products to inform your decision-making.
CTData has been busy this year, growing and offering more products and services that can help you with making sound decisions with data. The links to information we shared during the session is available here. The recording will be made available below after the session.
