Facts for Features: Mother’s Day (May 12th!)

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Steve Batt

Mother’s Day: May 12, 2013

The driving force behind Mother’s Day was Anna Jarvis, who organized observances in Grafton, W.Va., and Philadelphia on May 10, 1908. As the annual celebration became popular around the country, Jarvis asked members of Congress to set aside a day to honor mothers. She succeeded in 1914, when Congress designated the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.

How Many Mothers

4.1 million

Number of women between the ages of 15 and 50 who gave birth in the past 12 months.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2011 American Community Survey, Table B1302
<http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_11_1YR_B13002&prodType=table>

53%

Percentage of 15- to 44-year-old women who were mothers in 2010.
Source: Fertility of American Women: 2010
<http://www.census.gov/hhes/fertility/data/cps/2010.html> Table 1

81%

Percentage of women who had become mothers by age 40 to 44 as of 2010. In 1976, 90 percent of women in that age group had given birth.
Source: Fertility of American Women: 2010
<http://www.census.gov/hhes/fertility/data/cps/2010.html> Table 1

2,449

The total fertility rate or estimated number of total births per 1,000 women in Utah in 2010 (based on current birth rates by age), which led the nation. At the other end of the spectrum is Rhode Island, with a total fertility rate of 1,630.5 births per 1,000 women.
Source: National Center for Health Statistics, Table 12, page 42
<http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr61/nvsr61_01.pdf>

20%

Percentage of all women age 15 to 44 who have had two children. About 47 percent had no children, 17 percent had one, 10 percent had three and about 5 percent had four or more.
Source: Fertility of American Women: 2010, Detailed Tables, Table 1
<http://www.census.gov/hhes/fertility/data/cps/2010.html>

89.7%

Percentage of all children who lived with their biological mothers in 2012. About 1.2 percent of all children lived with a stepmother.
Source: America’s Families and Living Arrangements, 2012 CPS, Table C9
<http://www.census.gov/hhes/families/data/cps2012.html>

Recent Births

3.954 million

Number of births registered in the United States in 2011. Of this number, 329,797 were to teens 15 to 19 and 7,651 to women age 45 to 49.
Source: National Center for Health Statistics <http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr61/nvsr61_05.pdf>

25.4

Average age of women in 2010 when they gave birth for the first time, up from 25.2 years in 2009. The increase in the mean age from 2009 to 2010 reflects, in part, the relatively large decline in births to women under age 25.
Source: National Center for Health Statistics, Page 6 <http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr61/nvsr61_01.pdf> and
<http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr61/nvsr61_01_tables.pdf>

29.2%

The percentage of mothers who had given birth in the past 12 months who had a bachelor’s degree or higher and 84 percent of mothers have at least a high school diploma.
Source: 2011 American Community Survey, American FactFinder, Table S1301
<http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_11_1YR_S1301&prodType=table>

Jacob and Sophia

The most popular baby names for boys and girls, respectively, in 2011.
Source: Social Security Administration <http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/>

Stay-at-Home Moms

5 million

Number of stay-at-home moms in 2012 — statistically unchanged from 2009, 2010 and 2011– down from 5.3 million in 2008. In 2012, 24 percent of married-couple family groups with children under 15 had a stay-at-home mother, up from 21 percent in 2000. In 2007, before the recession, stay-at-home mothers were found in 24 percent of married-couple family groups with children under 15, not statistically different from the percentage in 2012.
Source: America’s Families and Living Arrangements Table SHP-1 <http://www.census.gov/hhes/families/data/families.html>

$236,500; 321,200; and 93,600

Median home value of owner-occupied units in Currituck, Dare and Hyde counties, respectively.
Source: 2007-2011 American Community Survey Estimates
<http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/11_5YR/DP04/0500000US37053|0500000US37055|0500000US37095>

Compared with other moms, stay-at-home moms in 2007 were more likely:

Younger (44 percent were under age 35, compared with 38 percent of mothers in the labor force).
Hispanic (27 percent, compared with 16 percent of mothers in the labor force).
Foreign-born (34 percent, compared with 19 percent of mothers in the labor force).
Living with a child under age 5 (57 percent, compared with 43 percent of mothers in the labor force).
Without a high school diploma (19 percent versus 8 percent of mothers in the labor force).

Source: America’s Families and Living Arrangements: 2007

<http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam/p20-561.pdf>

Employed Moms

827,907

Number of child care centers across the country in 2010. These included 75,695 child day care services employing 859,416 workers and another 752,212 self-employed people or other businesses without paid employees. Many mothers turn to these centers to help juggle motherhood and careers.
Source: County Business Patterns: 2010 <http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/> and
Nonemployer Statistics: 2010 <http://www.census.gov/econ/nonemployer/>

62.1%

Percentage of women age 16 to 50 who had a birth in the past 12 months who were in the labor force.
Source: 2011 American Community Survey, American FactFinder, Table S1301
<http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_11_1YR_S1301&prodType=table>

Single Moms

10.3 million

The number of single mothers living with children younger than 18 in 2012, up from 3.4 million in 1970.
Source: America’s Families and Living Arrangements
<http://www.census.gov/hhes/families/data/families.html> Table FM-2

5.9 million

Number of custodial mothers who were owed child support in 2009.
Source: Custodial Mothers and Fathers and Their Child Support: 2009, Table 1
<http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/p60-240.pdf html>

36%

Percentage of births in the past 12 months that were to women age 15 to 50 who were unmarried (including divorced, widowed and never married women).
Source: 2011 American Community Survey, American Fact Finder, Table B1302
<http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_11_1YR_B13002&prodType=table>

In 2011, 407,873 mothers who had a birth in the past 12 months were living with a cohabiting partner.
Source: 2011 American Community Survey, American Fact Finder, Table B1304
<http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_11_1YR_B13004&prodType=table>

Mothers Remembered

16,182

Number of florist establishments nationwide in 2010. The 70,575 employees in floral shops across our nation will be especially busy preparing, selling and delivering floral arrangements for Mother’s Day.
Source: County Business Patterns: 2010 <http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/>

10,258

Number of employees of the 103 greeting-card publishing establishments in 2010.
Source: County Business Patterns: 2010 <http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/>

14,654

The number of cosmetics, beauty supplies and perfume stores nationwide in 2010. Perfume is a popular gift given on Mother’s Day.
Source: County Business Patterns: 2010 <http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/>

23,739

Number of jewelry stores in the United States in 2010 — the place to purchase necklaces, earrings and other timeless pieces for mom.
Source: County Business Patterns: 2010 <http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/>

Facts for Features: Cinco de Mayo

Posted on May 5, 2013 by Steve Batt

Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo celebrates the legendary Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, in which a Mexican force of 4,500 men faced 6,000 well-trained French soldiers. The battle lasted four hours and ended in a victory for the Mexican army under Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza. Along with Mexican Independence Day on Sept. 16, Cinco de Mayo has become a time to celebrate Mexican heritage and culture.

Mexican Population

33.6 million

The number of U.S. residents of Mexican origin.
Source: 2011 American Community Survey
<http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/11_1YR/S0201//popgroup~001|400|401>

25.7

Median age of people in the United States of Mexican origin in 2011. The total Hispanic population had a median age of 27.5, and for the total population it was 37.3 in 2011.
Source: 2011 American Community Survey
<http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/11_1YR/S0201//popgroup~001|400|401>

Geographic Distribution

12.0 million

Total number of the Mexican-origin population in the United States that resided in California in 2011. For Texas, the number was 8.6 million.
Source: 2011 American Community Survey
<http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/11_1YR/S0201/0400000US06|0400000US48/popgroup~001|400|401>

Veterans

700,000

Number of U.S. military veterans of Mexican origin in 2011.
Source: 2011 American Community Survey
<http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/11_1YR/S0201//popgroup~401>

Education

1.65 million

Number of people of Mexican descent 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2011. This included 450,000 who had a graduate or professional degree.
Source: 2011 American Community Survey
<http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/11_1YR/S0201//popgroup~401>

Families

33.3%

Percentage of married-couple families, with own children younger than 18, among households with a householder of Mexican origin in 2011. For all households, the corresponding percentage was 20.0 percent.
Source: 2011 American Community Survey
<http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/11_1YR/S0201//popgroup~001|401>

4.17 people

Average size of families with a householder of Mexican origin in 2011. The average size of all families was 3.25 people.
Source: 2011 American Community Survey
<http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/11_1YR/S0201//popgroup~001|401>

Jobs

67.4%

Percentage 16 and older of Mexican origin in the labor force in 2011. The percentage was 64.0 percent for the population as a whole.
Source: 2011 American Community Survey
<http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/11_1YR/S0201//popgroup~001|401>

16.4%

Percentage of employed civilians 16 years and older of Mexican origin who worked in management, business, science and arts occupations in 2011. In addition, 26.7 percent worked in service occupations; and 21.1 percent in sales and office occupations. With 17.8 percent in natural resources, construction and maintenance occupations and 18.0 percent in production, transportation and material moving occupations these professions are not significantly different in ranking.
Source: 2011 American Community Survey
<http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/11_1YR/S0201//popgroup~001|401>

Income and Wealth

$38,884

The annual median income of households with a householder of Mexican origin in 2011. For the population as a whole, the corresponding amount was $50,502.
Source: 2011 American Community Survey
<http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/11_1YR/S0201//popgroup~001|401>

27.5%

Poverty rate in 2011 for all people of Mexican heritage. For the population as a whole, the corresponding rate was 15.9 percent.
Source: 2011 American Community Survey
<http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/11_1YR/S0201//popgroup~001|401>

25.0%

Poverty rate in 2011 for all families of Mexican heritage. For all families, the corresponding family poverty rate was 11.7 percent.
Source: 2011 American Community Survey
<http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/11_1YR/S0201//popgroup~001|401>

Ownership

48.5%

Percentage of householders of Mexican origin in occupied housing units who owned the home in which they lived. For all householders, the corresponding rate was 64.6 percent.
Source: 2011 American Community Survey
<http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/11_1YR/S0201//popgroup~001|401>

Foreign-Born

11.6 million

Number of U.S. residents of Mexican origin in 2011 who were foreign born, including 53.4 percent male and 46.6 percent female.
Source: 2011 American Community Survey
<http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/11_1YR/S0201//popgroup~001|401>

Language spoken at home

74.6%

Percentage of Mexican-origin people who spoke a language other than English at home in 2011; among these people, 34.3 percent spoke English less than “very well.” Among the population as a whole, the corresponding figures were 20.8 percent and 8.7 percent, respectively.
Source: 2011 American Community Survey
<http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/11_1YR/S0201//popgroup~001|401>

Trade with Mexico

$494.0 billion

The value of total goods traded between the United States and Mexico in 2012. Mexico was our nation’s third-leading trading partner, after Canada and China. The leading U.S. export commodity to Mexico in 2012 was light oils and preparations ($11.7 billion); the leading U.S. import commodity from Mexico in 2012 was crude oil ($37.3 billion).
Source: Foreign Trade Statistics
<http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/highlights/top/top1212yr.html>
<http://data.usatradeonline.gov/usatrade/Browse/BrowseTables.aspx>

Mexican Food

367

Number of U.S. tortilla manufacturing establishments in 2010, with 116 of these establishments located in Texas. The establishments that produce this unleavened flat bread employed 16,143 people. Tortillas, the principal food of the Aztecs, are known as the “bread of Mexico.”
Source: County Business Patterns: 2010 <http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/>

Businesses

1.0 million

Number of firms owned by people of Mexican origin in 2007. They accounted for 45.8 percent of all Hispanic-owned firms. Mexicans led all Hispanic subgroups.
Source: Hispanic-Owned Firms: 2007 <http://www.census.gov/econ/sbo/>

$154.9 billion

Sales and receipts for firms owned by people of Mexican origin in 2007, 44.2 percent of all Hispanic-owned firm receipts.
Source: Hispanic-Owned Firms: 2007 <http://www.census.gov/econ/sbo/>

47.8%

Percentage increase in the number of businesses owned by people of Mexican origin between 2002 and 2007.
Source: Hispanic-Owned Firms: 2007
<http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/business_ownership/cb10-145.html>

70.5%

Percentage of all Mexican-owned U.S. businesses in California and Texas combined in 2007. California had the most Mexican-owned U.S. firms (36.1 percent), followed by Texas (34.4 percent) and Arizona (4.1 percent).
Source: Hispanic-Owned Firms: 2007 <http://www.census.gov/econ/sbo/>

16.5%

Percentage of all firms in Texas that were Mexican-owned in 2007, which led all states. New Mexico was next (15.1 percent), followed by California (10.9 percent), Arizona (8.6 percent) and Nevada (4.9 percent).
Source: Hispanic-Owned Firms: 2007 <http://www.census.gov/econ/sbo/>

32.3%

Percentage of Mexican-owned U.S. firms in the construction and repair, maintenance, personal and laundry services sectors. Mexican-owned firms accounted for 5.1 percent of all U.S. businesses in these sectors.
Source: Hispanic-Owned Firms: 2007 <http://www.census.gov/econ/sbo/>

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

Posted on May 1, 2013 by

WEBINAR: 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!

State government tax collections

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Steve Batt

The Census Bureau reports that state government tax collections reached a record high of nearly $800 billion in fiscal year 2012.

The information comes from the 2012 Annual Survey of State Government Tax Collections, a report containing statistics on the fiscal year tax collections of all 50 state governments. Tax categories include property taxes, license taxes, and income taxes but are broken down further to also include motor fuel taxes, severance taxes, and hunting license taxes as well.

Data is available in American FactFinder as a detailed table that indicates the amount and type of taxes each state government collected. For example, Connecticut collected $15,419,556 in taxes for FY2012, and of those the category that comprised the most was Income Taxes ($7,996,509) and Sales Tax ($6,677,074)

Click image to interact with data

California ranked first on the Total Tax list, while Massachusetts ranked 10th, and Connecticut ranked 18th. New Hampshire was 49th, and South Dakota 50th.

New data available in American FactFinder

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Steve Batt

The Census Bureau reports that the following data is now available via American FactFinder:

1. 2010 Census Congressional District Summary File (113th Congress) – Detailed Tables Only

2. 2010 CQR Cycles 4 & 5

3. 2008 – 2010 DOL Disability Employment

4. 2012 Census of Governments – Detailed Tables Only

5. 2012 State Tax Collection – Detailed Tables Only

6. “What we provide” update for Census of Governments and Annual Survey of Governments

If you’re unfamiliar with how to use American FactFinder, check out the following videos that are also available on the CT State Data Center website, or take the American FactFinder Virtual Tour: http://factfinder2.census.gov/legacy/tour.html

Finding data for CT towns:

Selecting specific geographies:

Statistics to measure the employment of the American worker

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Steve Batt

The following data comes from the US Census Bureau and describes both recent and current employment trends and related statistics. Many demographic factors influence and are influenced by our professional careers. The data presented below express different aspects of the life of the American worker: how education and employment history influences income and earnings; how much those earnings are based on demographic characteristics; how employees and employers are currently dealing with employment-based healthcare; the influence of work on child-care; and when the employee finally ends their career, how much money is allotted for pensions by state or federal governments.

LED Extraction tool (beta)

The Bureau has released a new extraction tool for Local Employment Dynamics Data. It gives users the ability to access all 30 Local Employment Dynamics Quarterly Workforce indicators. This includes measures of employment, turnover, hiring, job creation, job destruction and average monthly earnings. Data is available in comma separated value (.csv) format for states, counties, and metro/micropolitan areas. You can access the tool here (or by clicking on the above image): http://ledextract.ces.census.gov/static/data.html

trends in the current business environment

Based on the 2007 North American Industry Classification System, estimates for business spending in 2011 have been calculated by the Census Bureau. The estimates cover spending for new and used structures and equipment at the sector level, and information about the private sector and business community. Tables and figures are available here: http://www.census.gov/econ/aces/xls/2011/full_report.html

Employment History, education and earnings: 2004 and 2008

The Survey of Income and Program Participation has put together detailed tables and charts, documented in this report, that examine the relationship between years of work experience, job tenure (years at a particular job), work status (full or part-time), presence of gaps in employment of six months or more, age, sex, educational attainment and earnings.

As an example, the findings show that individuals who had a college degree when entering the job market received greater earnings than those who did not graduate college.

Economic characteristics of households in US, Third Quarter 2011

These tables, released by the Census Bureau (Survey of Income and Program Participatin), “examine the role of government-sponsored benefit programs and the labor market among the nation’s people and households within the economic climate of the third quarter of 2011.” This includes statistics on average monthly income, participation in government-sponsored social welfare or social insurance programs, and labor force activity. The tables can be accessed here: http://www.census.gov/sipp/tables/quarterly-est/household-char/hsehld-char-11.html

income and earnings estimates by selected demographic characteristics, 2011 fourth quarter

The Census Bureau has recently released income and earnings estimates for the fourth quarter (October through December) of 2011. The data was collected by the Survey of Income and Program Participation and is organized by gender, race/ethnicity, age, martial status, and highest level of educational attainment. A quick glance at Table 1B, Mean Monthly Income, shows that individuals with post-graduate degrees by far had the highest mean income per month at $5,415.

The tables are available here:

Income: http://www.census.gov/sipp/tables/quarterly-est/income/income-11.html
Earnings: http://www.census.gov/sipp/tables/quarterly-est/earnings/earnings-11.html

Decline in employment-based health insurance

Income, earnings, and education are just a few ways to keep the pulse of the American economy and the American worker. Other statistics calculated by the Census Bureau, detailed in this report, show that the rate of employment-based health insurance coverage declined from 64.4 percent in 1997 to 56.5 percent in 2010. In 2011, the number fell still to 55.1 percent.

Highlights:

In 2010, 71.1 percent of employed individuals age 15 and older worked for an employer that offered health insurance benefits to any of its employees.
42.9 percent of individuals who did not complete high school worked for an employer that offered health insurance to any of its employees, compared with 78.9 percent for individuals with a college degree.
75.7 percent of workers age 45 to 64 worked for an employer that offered health insurance benefits, compared with 60.0 percent for workers 19 to 25.
Among married couples with only one member employed in a firm that offered health insurance benefits, 68.7 percent of married couples provided coverage for the spouse.
While 37.6 percent of firms with 0 to 24 employees offered more than one health insurance plan, 65.6 percent of firms with 1,000 or more employees offered more than one plan.
About 1.1 percent of nonparticipating workers whose employer offered health insurance benefits were not insured by their employer because they were denied coverage.
Among nonparticipating workers whose employer offered health insurance benefits, approximately half (50.4 percent) declined coverage by choice.
The two most common reasons among workers who chose not to obtain health insurance coverage through their employer were health insurance obtained through another source (66.4 percent) and cost (27.4 percent).

Child Care costs on the upswing

The Census Bureau also reports that child care costs are on the rise. In fact, they have nearly doubled in the last 25 years – though the percentage of families who pay for child care has actually declined. The Bureau’s report, Who’s Minding the Kids? Child Care Arrangements: Spring 2011, was recently released and details both demographic and financial aspects of understanding this phenomenon.

retirement: quarterly survey of public pensions: 4th quarter 2012

This survey provides national summary statistics on the revenues, expenditures and composition of assets of the 100 largest state and local public employee retirement systems in the US. For more information, see: http://www.census.gov/govs/qpr/

2012 Connecticut statewide 4-band aerial imagery

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Steve Batt

The 2012 statewide aerial imagery is now available!

http://www.cteco.uconn.edu/help/info_orthos2012.htm

Some of the basic facts:

4 bands (R,G,B,NIR)
1 foot pixel resolution
Flown in March 2012 (leaf-off)
Each tile covers 2.3 square kilometers (0.897 sq mi) and is 97.696 MB

It was paid for through a partnership between Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP), the Connecticut Department of Transportation (DOT), and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) along with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) providing support through project management, contracting and quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC).

The download interface allows you to download a mosaic for a whole town in JP2 format, or as individual GeoTiffs or MrSIDs. Users can also access the layer remotely through CTECO’s Map Services.

Examples:

Forested area in Ashford, Bands 1, 2, 3

Forested area in Ashford – Bands 4, 2, 1

Downtown Hartford, Bands 1, 2, 3

Downtown Hartford, Bands 4, 2, 3

Metro/Micropolitan Populations

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Steve Batt

Oil and Gas Boom Driving Population Growth in the Great Plains, Census Bureau Estimates Show

According to recent Census Bureau estimates, metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) and counties located in or near the Great Plains and West Texas were among the fastest growing areas last year. Midland, Texas, was the fastest-growing metro area over the July 1, 2011 to July 1, 2012 period with a population increase of 4.6 percent.

**The 10 Fastest Growing Metro Areas from July 1, 2011, to July 1, 2012**
		Percent Increase
1.	Midland, Texas	4.6
2.	Clarksville, Tenn.-Ky.	3.7
3.	Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, Fla.	3.6
4.	The Villages, Fla.	3.4
5.	Odessa, Texas	3.4
6.	Jacksonville, N.C.	3.3
7.	Austin-Round Rock, Texas	3.0
8.	Casper, Wyo.	3.0
9.	Columbus, Ga.-Ala.	2.9
10.	Manhattan, Kan.	2.8

Click on image to interact with map/data

**The 10 Fastest Growing Micro Areas from July 1, 2011, to July 1, 2012**
		Percent Increase
1.	Williston, N.D.	9.3
2.	Junction City, Kan.	7.4
3.	Dickinson, N.D.	6.5
4.	Andrews, Texas	4.7
5.	Vernal, Utah	4.1
6.	Heber, Utah	3.8
7.	Elk City, Okla.	3.5
8.	Elko, Nev.	3.5
9.	Pullman, Wash.	3.4
10.	Fort Polk South, La.	3.2

Digital Public Library of America [DPLA]

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Steve Batt

On Thursday, the Digital Public Library of America website was launched. The website brings together digitized cultural heritage from libraries, archives, and museums which it makes freely available to users. Currently the DPLA provides access to over 2 million items. The website also serves as a platform by providing its own API which developers can use to create apps. Users can search by keyword, but also use features such as Timeline, or Map to find digital objects.

The website is accessible at http://dp.la and their blog can be accessed here: http://dp.la/info/news/blog/

Census Population Clock

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Steve Batt

The Census Bureau’s Population clock can now be shared, downloaded and embedded into websites!

The clock, as well as regularly-updated population pyramids and other estimates that can also be embedded, can be accessed here: http://www.census.gov/popclock/

According to the Census Bureau,

“The population clock displays continuously updated projections of the total U.S. population, including the rate of births, deaths and net migration for the United States. For the first time, the clock also provides an age and sex population pyramid and a graph showing the population of U.S. regions. Both new features allow users to see how these measures have changed over time. Additionally, users can interact with tables displaying the most populous states, cities and counties in the United States. The clock provides not only a continuously updated world population total but also a list of the 10 most populous countries, with easy access to more world population statistics.

An important enhancement allows users to embed the population clock on their own website for quick reference. Using the “Download and Share” buttons, users can download the clock or copy code to embed the clock directly on their own website. Visitors can also share the clock via Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest.

The clock is based on a series of short-term projections for the resident population of the United States. This includes people whose usual residence is in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. These projections do not include members of the armed forces stationed overseas, their dependents, or other U.S. citizens residing outside the United States.

The projections are based on a monthly time series of population estimates starting with the April 1, 2010, resident population count derived from the 2010 Census.

The “Country Ranking” tool provides a quick and easy method to view the most populous countries in the world for any given year. The data for this tool are drawn from the Census Bureau’s International Data Base, which offers a variety of demographic indicators for countries and areas of the world with a population of 5,000 or more.”