Course Guide: NURS 405

What is the census? 

And why is it important?

And how would we use it in our community assessment?

QuickFacts: QuickFacts provides statistics for all states and counties.

It's a great place to seek out information for a town, city, county, state (as long as it's over 5,000 people). 

Things to know about QuickFacts:

1. Might not be around much longer, as they are trying to move to one census interface.

2. Doesn't give you the answer out-right, you will be given a table and will need to search out the answer. But you will be given the latest table with information. 

Use QuickFacts to Search for these Answers?

1. What is the latest U.S. Population?

2. What is the latest population of Greeley, CO. (the town in Colorado)?

Data.Census.Gov is the  latest search engine from the United States Census Bureau and is replacing American Fact Finder. American Fact Finder was decommissioned and is no longer available as of March 31, 2020.  The data available in data.census.gov has information after the year 2000. If you are wanting information before 2000 you will need to consult historical data found in the Census Bureau's Historical Publications site. 

There are two ways to start your search: 

1. Single search bar: like a google search type in what you are looking for using natural language searching. 

2. Advanced search 

Note that some statistics might not be readily available using the single search bar. If you do not get results fairly quickly, use the advanced search. 

Using Advanced Search: 

Use a set of filters to get a more precise search result: 

1. Start with the topic that is more important in your search. He will begin the search by clicking on the advanced search link; 

2. Since geography is important, you will select the specific geography (state, county, city, census tract) and then a topic. There are a variety of topics, ranging from business & economy, education, employment, families & living arrangements, health, etc. In this example of commuting, employment and commuting would be important. 

3. Click search and then you will get different results that you could delve into. 

Using the single bar search to find answers to these questions: 

1. How many people live in the United States? How many people live in Colorado? 

2. How many children in Colorado live in poverty compared Arizona (number)? 

3. What is the average rent in Colorado? Boulder, CO? Greeley, CO? Grand Junction, CO? 

4. How many veterans are living in Colorado? Of those how many are female? 

Using the Advanced search to find answers to these questions: 

The Advanced Search allows you to get search results using different filters to bring back very specific results. When using the Advanced Search: 

1. I recommend that you choose the Geography filter first. Get as specific as you want to go (state, county, city, or census tract) 

2. You could then select from the other filters: 

• Topic: choose from large topics such as education, employment, health, housing, income & poverty and race & ethnicity 
• Years: choose data from specific years, one or multiple 
• Survey: choose a specific survey tool 
• Codes: choose for specific industry, product or commodity codes, if you are familiar with those. 

Practice questions: 

Find out what percentage of workers commute and live in Larimer County? Live in Weld County? 

(Tip: click on geography, click on county, select Weld County and Larimer County. Then click on Topics, click on employment, click on commuting. Then click on search) 

Find out how many people with disabilities are currently living in Colorado? 

(Tip: click on geography, click on state, choose Colorado. Then click on topics, click on health and then click on disability. Then click on Search.)