WU Libraries Government, Etc.: Census Information

Subject librarian: Barbara Rehkop
Office Hours: By Appointment
Email: brehkop@wustl.edu
Phone: 314/935-7465
Fax: 314/935-4919

Link to Government page  

Washington University in St. Louis is a Missouri Census Data Center Library Affiliate.

Missouri State Census Data Center
We are very fortunate to have one of the best State Data Centers in the Nation! Look here for an EASY way to find preformatted reports for Missouri and Illinois, with much more detail available as needed. Notice that you can also see the same sorts of reports for anywhere else in the country, too. The data here is exactly the same as what's available from the Census Bureau.

Missouri Spacial Data Information Service (MSDIS)
'The Missouri Spatial Data Information Service provides GIS and census data about the state of Missouri to the public by way of anonymous FTP and this World Wide Web site.'

The Census Bureau
This is the official website for Census 2000 data. Get started by pressing the 'Search' tab at the top. The Census Bureau publishes a lot of other statistical data besides the Decennial Census, so you might want to look around their homepage.

Census Mirror Site at Kelvin Smith Library of Case Western Reserve University
"This partnership [between the Census Bureau and Case Western Reserve] provides permanent public access to the mirror site of Census 2000 ASCII text files. These files are used to load large amounts of data from census tables into other applications such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), database management programs or statistical analysis systems."

Missouri and Illinois Counties included in the MSA
For a quick list, look here!

Census Glossary
Which is bigger, a 'tract' or a 'block group'? What's the difference between a 'household' and a 'family'? The Glossary provides definitions to these and many other terms used by various Census products.

St. Louis City Neighborhoods
This Excel(tm) spreadsheet may act as a 'bridge' between Census tracts and St. Louis City Neighborhood areas. Please be aware of a few caveats: (1) The tracts and the neighborhoods do not precisely match. Therefore, the tracts given for each neighborhood are actually larger than the neighborhood described. (2) Tracts may be included in more than one neighborhood. Therefore, you cannot simply total the population of the tracts and come up with the total population for the City. (3) Given the inaccuracies inherent in (1) and (2) above, you may want to compare a map of your neighborhood and a Census tract map. (4) In the spreadsheet, the neighborhood number is repeated for each tract to make sorting easier.

Geostat Center from the University of Virginia Library
Historical Census Browser. The data presented here describe the population and economy of U.S. states and counties from 1790 to 1960.

Historical Decennial Census Information from the U.S. Census Bureau
The Census Bureau has mounted many (but not all) of the tables from 1790-1990 Decennial Censuses. There are tables included for 'places', but not for tracts, blocks or block groups.

National Historical Geographic Information System
"The National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS) provides, free of charge, aggregate census data and GIS-compatible boundary files for the United States between 1790 and 2000."

Social Explorer
'Social Explorer is dedicated to providing demographic information in an easily understood format, data maps. We serve hundreds of interactive data maps of United States. Here, you can visually analyze and understand the demography of the U.S., explore your neighborhood and learn about the people that live around you.'

Bicentennial Edition: Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970
This was originally published in 1976 (HA202 .A388 1975 in the Olin Reference Desk Collection). Now available in .pdf!

Catalog of Administrative Data Sources for Neighborhood Indicators, by Claudia J. Coulton (A National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership - NNIP - Guide)
"Content includes source, sample indicators and likely sources for obtaining data, e.g. 911 calls, % calls for domestic violence, local police departments." (with thanks to Amy West, University of Minnesota)