Downloading Census Tables
Included in this tutorial:
Getting Started
Filtering by topic and examining search results
Filtering by geography
Downloading data
Credits: L. Meisterlin with Moses Levich (updated 2021). Camille Esquivel (2020).
This tutorial demonstrates downloading US Census data using the 2013 American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year Estimates table on the “percentage of the adult population (25 years or older) without a high school diploma or equivalent” by census tract in Queens, NY, as an example.
Getting Started
Visit the US Census Bureau website at data.census.gov and click Advanced Search below the search bar.
Filtering by Topic
The first step is to locate the necessary table and ensure it has the information you are looking for before choosing the right geography and downloading.
If you know the Table ID, you can enter this into the search bar. If not, you can use the filters to find the data you need.
To filter by topic, click Topics in the Browse Filters column, which should open a new column of options to continue filtering your search. Then filter through Education > Educational Attainment (for this example).
Your selection should appear as a selected filter at the bottom of your browser window. Click Search in the bottom right corner.
Examining Search Results
Once you’ve clicked Search, a new page will open that shows the results categorized under “Tables,” “Maps,” and “Pages.” If you have not also filtered by year, then you will see that there are data tables from multiple years available. In this example, we are looking for the 2013 5-Year American Community Survey data.
Our data is in tabular form, so select Tables in the top left of the window. Ensure that Educational Attainment is still selected.
Click the Product dropdown menu on the right side of the window and select “2013: ACS 5-year Estimate Subject Tables” (for this example).
This allows us to verify quickly if the dataset includes the information we’re looking for (helpful before you spend time downloading large datasets).
We can see here that data about high school graduates is available, which this tutorial asks for.
Filtering by Geography
We are looking for data at the census-tract level for Queens, NY. Now that we know the Educational Attainment table of the 2013 ACS 5-year Estimates has what we need, we can search for the right geography.
Click Filter in the left column. This brings up the Advanced Search interface again. Educational Attainment should still be selected as a filter.
TIP: Because many variables are only available by certain geographic units, it is often helpful to consider the order in which you use the available filters before you start searching.
Click Geography, which should open a new column of options to continue filtering your search. In this case, we’ll filter through Tract > within New York state > within Queens County, New York >> All Census Tracts within Queens County, New York.
Your selection should appear as a selected filter in the middle of your browser window, next to your existing selection.
Click Done in the top right of the window.
Downloading Data
When you are ready to download, click Download in the left column and click the box for your desired table (here: “Educational Attainment”).
Click Download Selected (1), which should open a pop-up window at the bottom of your screen. Select “2013” and ensure that your file type is CSV.
Click the Download button which will prepare your files.
Finally, click Download Now when your files are ready.
The dataset will be downloaded as a packaged ZIP file. After you extract your files, you can open ACSST5Y2013.S1501_data_with_overlays.csv with your compatible software of choice.