Educational Attainment, and Earnings by Educational Attainment & Gender, in Connecticut Towns

The map and graphs below provide information on levels of educational attainment among Connecticut towns, along with data on median earnings by town for men and women having various levels of education. The data on education and income are tabulated only for those age 25 and over. The American Community Survey defines educational attainment as “the highest level of education completed in terms of the highest degree or the highest level of schooling completed.”

The data below are taken from Table S1501 the 2008-12 5-Year Estimates data release of the American Community Survey. The complete data for the state and all towns can be downloaded here.

For help with locating data on Connecticut from the American Community Survey or other Census Bureau program, please contact the Connecticut State Data Center.

Educational Attainment for the Population Below the Poverty Level in Connecticut Towns (American Community Survey 2008-12 5-Year Estimates data)

The recently-released ACS 2008-12 5-Year Estimates data provide updated estimates for all Connecticut towns, including detailed data on the population living below the poverty level. The visualization below uses data provided by the ACS on the educational attainment of those age 25 and older in poverty, providing details on the percentage of this population which has less than a high school diploma or GED, a high school degree or equivalent, some college credits or an associate degree, or a bachelor’s degree or higher. The map focuses on the percent of those in poverty in each town who hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. By selecting any town on the map, the bar graphs beneath will display more detailed educational attainment data for the town, both for the general population and those below the poverty threshold.

The American Community Survey uses poverty thresholds established by the Office of Management and Budget; more information is available here. It’s important to note that these thresholds do not vary geographically; for example, the same poverty threshold for a household consisting of a single adult with a related child under 18 ($15,504) is used in every state.

Median household income by Census Tract (American Community Survey 2008-12 5-Year Estimates data)

With the Census Bureau’s recent release of the 2008-12 5-Year Estimates data from the American Community Survey, new economic, social and demographic data are available for all Connecticut cities and towns, as well as smaller geographies such as school districts and Census Tracts. The visualization below uses household income data from the new ACS release to display median household income by Census Tract. Clicking any tract on the map will bring up a bar graph illustrating income distribution within the tract; links in the tooltip allow the user to explore more of the new data from the American Community Survey for the tract.

Webinars from the US Census Bureau

The US Census Bureau has provided information about upcoming free webinars. Users can

CensusBureauview more details about each webinar, including passcodes and links to the webinars, at this website: http://www.census.gov/mso/www/training/

Nov 07    Foreign Trade Regulations Town Hall Webinar

Description: These in-depth webinars provide the information necessary to understand the changes to the Foreign Trade Regulations (FTR). Come learn about what has changed and how that change will affect you. Best of all, the webinars are free. These webinars will focus on changes in reporting requirements, new fields added to the Automated Export System (License Value and Ultimate Consignee Type), changes in definitions, such as port of export and household goods and much more.

Format: Webinar
Time: 2pm – 3pm ET

Nov 13    How to Navigate American FactFinder

Description: Gain experience in using the American FactFinder data access tool. Learn how to use the search and navigation features to access some of the Census Bureau’s programs, datasets and topics.

Format: Webinar
Time: 1pm – 3pm ET

Nov 19    Accessing Employment Statistics Using “OnTheMap”

Description: Uncover a wealth of information available on U.S. workers in an overview of this online mapping and reporting application. See where they are employed and where they live with companion reports on worker characteristics and optional filtering by age, earnings, or industry groups.

Format: Webinar
Time: 1pm -3pm ET

Dec 10    Accessing Block Group Data with the American Community Survey Summary File

Description: The American Community Survey (ACS) is an ongoing survey that generates estimates on social, economic, housing, and demographic topics. Data users can access these estimates down to the block group level of geography through the ACS Summary File. This presentation will cover background information about the ACS, an explanation of the ACS Summary File, and a demonstration of accessing block group data using the ACS Summary File.

Format: Webinar
Time: 1:00-2:30pm ET

Dec 12    Foreign Trade Regulations Town Hall Webinar

Description: These in-depth webinars provide the information necessary to understand the changes to the Foreign Trade Regulations (FTR). Come learn about what has changed and how that change will affect you. Best of all, the webinars are free. These webinars will focus on changes in reporting requirements, new fields added to the Automated Export System (License Value and Ultimate Consignee Type), changes in definitions, such as port of export and household goods and much more.

Format: Webinar
Time: 2pm – 3pm ET

Census Data Access Impacted by Government Shut Down

Due to the lapse in government funding, census.gov and all online survey collection requests for the U.S. Census Bureau will be unavailable until further notice.

Updates regarding government operating status and resumption of normal operations can be found at http://www.usa.gov.

Websites affected by this shutdown are all census.gov websites, including:

Alternative Census Data Sources

During this outage there are a few alternatives options for accessing this data which include:

Connecticut State Data Center – Website includes 2010 Census, 2010 ACS 1,3,5 year, and 2011 ACS 1, 3, 5 year datasets for Connecticut.

NHGIS – Includes historical census data for the nation and includes the ability to download census data in shapefile format.

If you should have any questions about accessing data contact the Connecticut State Data Center at ctsdc@uconn.edu.

WEBINAR: Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) and American Fact Finder (AFF) for research on Puerto Ricans – May 7, 2013

IPUMS - AFF flyer englishWEBINAR: Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) and American Fact Finder (AFF) for research on Puerto Ricans

¡LIMITED SPACES!

Date: Tuesday May 7, 2013, 2:00pm a 4:00pm AST (EDT)

¡Begin the registration process now! Click to Register for Webinar

Discover a free source of information available to researchers who want to study the conditions of Puerto Ricans living in and outside of Puerto Rico, the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS). The webinar will also include how to access data from the U.S. Census Bureau through the American FactFinder (AFF). The AFF topics are similar to those of the IPUMS.

The IPUMS contains detailed information from a sample of people in several Latin American countries and in the United States who identified Puerto Rico as their country of origin in the censuses of population and housing over the past four decades. Soon census data from the 2010 round will be available and IPUMS will help deepen our understanding of Puerto Rican communities that exist not only in the United States and in Puerto Rico, but also in Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela, among others, their evolution since 1970, and their comparison with the Puerto Rican population in Puerto Rico.

The IPUMS allows researchers to analyze socio demographic and economic characteristics of these communities in an integrated manner for all countries, without having to analyze the data separately for each country. The topics that can be analyzed for these communities include household characteristics (such as ownership, access to basic services, the availability of automobile and air conditioning, the number of rooms, etc.), as well as socio demographic characteristics (such as age, sex, marital status, race, literacy, education, employment status, occupation, industry, income, disabilities, etc.). The IPUMS, the U.S. Census Bureau, the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, and the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics invite the public to participate in this webinar, which will take place in English, and which will familiarize participants with the data available through IPUMS, and how to use it for research purposes.
Sign up for IPUMS International and IPUMS USA at least 1 week before the webinar!

Upcoming Webinars

The Census Bureau’s Education, Training & Dissemination Branch has scheduled several webinars over the next three months. These webinars do have a finite number of slots available, so you may want to register early to make sure you are able to participate!

Registration information and webinar descriptions are available in the upper left corner of the Training Events page http://www.census.gov/mso/www/training/training_events.html

• The Economic Census and Other Economic Programs (April 17, 1:00 – 3:30 EDT)

• Understanding Census Geography (April 18, 1:00 – 3:00 EDT)

• Introduction to the American Community Survey (April 24, 1:00 – 2:30 EDT)

• The Current Population Survey & Survey of Income and Program Participation (May 8, 1:00 – 3:00 EDT)

• Population Estimates and Projections (May 22, 1:00 – 2:30 EDT)

• Customized Searching Through DataFerrett (May 29, 1:00 – 3:30 EDT)

• How to Navigate American FactFinder (June 19, 1:00 – 3:00 EDT)

• Government Statistics (June 26, 1:00 – 2:30 EDT)

If you are unable to attend these webinars, you might also find these tutorials from the Census Bureau’s Training Resources Library useful or informative:

eLearn

Demographic bits and bytes

The Census Bureau records quite numerous useful data beyond demographics here in the US. Included below are some examples, provided by the US Census Bureau, that exemplify just how informative some of this data can actually be!

Schools

This working paper discusses the decline in attendance at private schools over the past decade. According to the census bureau:

Data from several surveys, including the Current Population Survey and American Community Survey, show a decline in private school enrollment over the last decade. The working paper compares trends across datasets and subgroups and explores possible underlying causes of the decline in enrollment, which occurred particularly at larger, religiously affiliated schools in cities and suburbs. Possible causes explored by the paper include the growth in charter schools, home schooling and the recession.

 

Disability, Employment, and Government Assistance

The Census Bureau also reports that workers with a disability are less likely to be employed and for those who are employed, are more likely to hold jobs with lower earnings. The three most common occupations for men with disabilities were drivers/sales workers and truck drivers (246,000); janitors and building cleaners (217,000); and laborers and freight, stock, and material movers (171,000). For women, as cashiers (195,000); secretaries or administrative assistants (189,000); and nursing, psychiatric or home health aides (172,000). These data can be found on the Census website under the Disability Employment Tabulation available through American Factfinder.

DisabilityGraphThe report, which uses data from 2011, indicates that 30% of of the 46 million adults that receive government assistance have a disability of some kind. There is a relationship to these statistics and those regarding employment as well; Bernice Boursiquot, co-author of the report and Census Bureau statistician noted that “On average, people with disabilities have lower employment and earnings; therefore, understanding what assistance people with disabilities receive may help governments better coordinate and administer their programs.”

DisabilityandAssistance

Demographics & Income

And if you were wondering about demographics and income, the Bureau has also released income/earnings estimates for the third quarter (July-September) of 2011 by selected demographic characteristics such as gender, age, race/ethnicity, martial status, and educational attainment. Tables are available here:

A different report, released Feb 11 shows that the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT metropolitan area near NYC has the highest percentage of households with high income in the nation at 17.9 percent. High income is defined as being in the top 5 percent of national income distribution, which is an annual household income of at least $191,469.

Megacommuters

How long is your commute to work? How many miles do you usually drive? The ACS (American Community Survey) collects and provides this information. See ACS report  here by Brian McKenzie, a Census Bureau statistician, to see how you compare to the rest of the US workforce. As an example, about 342,000 workers commute into Suffolk County, Massachusetts (Boston area) every day from outside of that county; if you’ve ever driven on I-93 or I-95 at rush hour, it certainly seems like it makes sense!

MegacommutingDid you know that:

  • 600,000 people in the US travel 90 minutes and 50 miles to work; 10.8 million travel an hour each way.
  • 8.1 percent of US workers have commutes of 60 minutes or longer
  • 4.3 percent walk from home
  • The average one-way daily commute for workers across the country is 25.5 minutes.
  • Of those who were classified as “megacommuters”,  75.4 percent were male and 24.6 percent were female.

For more information about Megacommuting in the US, see the below links:

Home-based workers

Working at home is on the rise! In contrast to megacommuting, it is now apparent that more and more individuals are choosing to work from home. The Census Bureau has also compiled an infographic to dissect some of the statistics involved with this phenomenon.

Snippet from infographic

Snippet from infographic

 

 

2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal

Results from the 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, Live on the “America by the Numbers” Segment of C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal”

Date:Friday March 15, 2013
Time: 8:15am EDT

America’s youth, ages 12 to 17, continue to report substantial rates of major depressive episodes. Among those who suffer from mental illness, co-occuring substance use and dependence are common. Find out more on Friday, March 15, 2013, at 8:15 a.m. EDT as Peter Delany, director of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, discusses the trends by age and gender, how the data are collected, and what mental health services are being used.

Most Fridays, C-SPAN’s “America by the Numbers” segment on its “Washington Journal” show features information from the federal statistical system. The program highlights trends and allows the public to call in or email their views. More information on previous C-SPAN programs is available at http://www.census.gov/newsroom/cspan/.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Month in Review – CtSDC & MAGIC – October 2012

Month in Review – CtSDC & MAGIC – October 2012

The Connecticut State Data Center (CtSDC) and the University of Connecticut Libraries Map and Geographic Information Center (MAGIC) continue to expand upon our web resources to include more data, GIS datasets, interactive maps, historical maps, and aerial photography. During the month of October 2012, most web products experienced an increase in usage, when compared to the same time period one year prior, and the number of inquiries received continues to rise, including the amount of time devoted to each question. Included below are highlights from October 2012 which focuses on five main areas: User Inquiries, Web Content Views, Trends in Webpage Usage, Trends in Keywords, and Projects in Progress.


I. User Inquiries

Total User Inquiries
Included below are the statistics for user inquiries received by phone, email, and in-person during October 2012. As the data clearly visualizes, the number of inquiries continues to rise with the year to date totals representing a 129% increase when compared to the January 1- October 31 of the previous year.


Total Inquiries
Monthly Change
vs. 2011
YTD Inquiries
for 2012
YTD Change
vs. 2011
Connecticut State Data Center
179
90%
1,702
98%
MAGIC
342
213%
1,526
165%

Total
521
157%
3,228
129%




II. Web Content Views

Total Unique Content Views
Included below are the web content unique views statistics for October 2012 which include comparisons with October 2011, the year to date (YTD) unique views and the change in the total number of unique views when compared to the same time period (January 1 – October 31)  from the previous year.

Web Resource
Unique Views
Monthly Change
vs. 2011
YTD Unique Views
for 2012
YTD Change
vs. 2011
Connecticut State Data Center
1,723
23%
15,521
15%
MAGIC 2.0 Online Maps
483
-18%
5,000
-44%
MAGIC  Flickr Collections
21,988
51%
332,846
59%
MAGIC News Blog (Retired)
40
54%
370
31%
MAGIC Website
15,899
34%
126,998
15%
Outside the Neatline Blog
1,606
-13%
9,334
12%

Total*
41,739
40%
490,073
39%
* Total includes CT View

Total Content Views
With more users viewing web content more than once from MAGIC and the Connecticut State Data Center, the total views of web content provides a more detailed view of the trends in usage. The following table includes the usage trends for the total number of views, monthly change when compared to same month in 2011, the year to date (YTD) total number of views and the change in total views when compared to the same time period (January 1 – October 31) from the previous year.

Web Resource
Total Views
Monthly Change
vs. 2011
YTD Total Views
for 2012
YTD Change
vs. 2011
Connecticut State Data Center
2,330
11%
22,443
10%
MAGIC 2.0 Online Maps
4,130
-32%
42,551
-51%
MAGIC  Flickr Collections
21,988
51%
332,846
59%
MAGIC News Blog (Retired)
66
83%
534
58%
MAGIC Website
23,351
25%
197,100
14%
Outside the Neatline Blog
2,139
18%
12,722
13%

Total*
54,004
25%
608,210
21%
* Total includes CT View

III. Trends in Webpage Usage – October 2012
Ever wondered what the most popular pages are at MAGIC and the Connecticut State Data Center? Included below are the top 5 most popular pages for October 2012.

Most Popular pages – Connecticut State Data Center
Page
Total Views
623
600
292
179
107

Most Popular pages – MAGIC 
Page
Total Views
4,171
 3,708
3,183
1,216
1,087


Most Popular pages – Outside the Neatline Blog 
Page
Total Views
509
Raster vs Vector         
     214
114
99
82


IV. Trends in Keywords – October 2012
At the Connecticut State Data Center and MAGIC each month we analyze keyword searches conducted on our websites to determine areas to focus increasing accessing to maps, data, and resources. Keyword provide us with an opportunity to see trends, areas for improvement, and have been integral to providing guidance on website development and improvements. Included below are keyword trends for October 2012.

Most Frequent Keywords – Connecticut State Data Center
Keyword
East Hartford
  
Most Frequent Keywords – MAGIC
Keyword
Stratford
land use
Bridgeport
campus map
Colchester Connecticut

V. Projects in Progress – October 2012
Each month the students and staff at MAGIC and the Connecticut State Data Center are working on a series of projects, tasks, data sets, and resources which users typically don’t know about until we add the resource to our website. Included below is a list of projects that are currently underway which will be completed in the coming months and made available in their final forms via our websites.

  • Connecticut Population Projections 2015-2025 – The population projections were completed during the month of October and are being released on November 1, 2012 to include data visualizations, downloadable datasets, in-depth methodology description, and a summary report are being created for individual towns which will be added to the site in the coming months.View the preliminary projections and the interactive data interface at: http://ctsdc.uconn.edu/projections.html
  • Data Visualization – The Connecticut State Data Center has added additional data visualizations which include census tract, town, regional planning organization, and other geographies to visualize census data from the American Community Survey (ACS). View the latest visualizations at: http://ctsdc.uconn.edu/dataviz/
  • 2012 Aerial Photography for Connecticut – We are in the process of receiving the 2012 Aerial Photography for Connecticut and in the coming months this data will be made available via MAGIC and CT ECO. Once all the data is received, a downloadable index of aerial photography images will be included on MAGIC’s website and a map service will be added to CT ECO thanks to the efforts of the CT DEEP and CLEAR.
  • Slavery Ship Logs Mapping Project – Work continues on trascribing ship logs from 1757-1758 as part of a collaborative project between MAGIC and the Connecticut State Library. This project involves transcribing the log books into a spreadsheet which can be used to create a map of the voyages. A few samples of the logs are available from the Connecticut State Library website at: http://www.cslib.org/slaverlog.htm
  • Bridgeport and Waterbury Historical Mapping Project – Two interns at MAGIC this semester are in the process of georeferencing scans of historic Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps from Yale University for Bridgeport and Waterbury. These maps will be used to help map out data from the 1920s census for Waterbury and to examine census data in Bridgeport. Samples of the Bridgeport project are included on a poster which is on display at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, CT for Geography Awarness Month/GIS Day.
  • ACS 2011 – 1 Year Estimates – Connecticut State Data Center has processed and added downloadable data for the 2011 ACS 1 Year estimates datasets. The datasets will include spreadsheet, codebooks, and geodatabase files for state, county, congressional districts, unified school districts, and the 8 largest towns in Connecticut and are available for download from the Connecticut State Data Center website at: http://ctsdc.uconn.edu/connecticut_census_data.html
  • ACS 2011 – 3 Year Estimates – Connecticut State Data Center is in the process of creating downloadable datasets for the 2011 ACS 3 Year estimates datasets. The datasets will include spreadsheet and geodatabase files for state, county, congressional districts, and the 54 largest towns in Connecticut and will be made available to the public once completed via the Connecticut State Data Center website at: http://ctsdc.uconn.edu/connecticut_census_data.html
  • Connecticut State Data Center website enhancements – This past month the Connecticut Census Data page (http://ctsdc.uconn.edu/connecticut_census_data.html) was revised to include direct links to the Data Codebooks for the American Community Survey (ACS) and Decennial Census data. This enables users to quickly determine which table includes the data they need while also enabling both spreadsheet and geodatabase users to have quick access to the complete listing of data and tables available for download for Connecticut.
Have an idea for a project or suggestions for improvements to MAGIC and the Connecticut State Data Center’s website and web offerings? Leave us a comment or contact us at magic@uconn.edu.  



Each month we will be posting a “Month in Review” article so check back next month to see the latest information on usage trends at MAGIC and the Connecticut State Data Center.