Geography 4260--Urban Geography  Tags: demographics population economic_resources census  

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Population and Housing data is gathered by the Census Bureau and released every 10 years. Users can find a wealth of information about people in the decennial population. This data is reported by a variety of geographic (states, counties, towns, villages, cities, etc.) and political units (metropolitan areas, Indian Researvations, census tracts, etc.) Before you start researching information about the population, you must decide what geographic unit you want to find data for. For instance, are you analysing information about the state you live in or do you want to find out about the people who live on your city block.

Explore the Census Resources Tab is this guide to connect to the Census Bureau website.

The Economic Census is actually a large series of reports issued every five years. There are reports covering retail, wholesale, services, construction, and manufacturing in the United States as well as data for each of the states, counties, and cities. The Census Bureau has a great explanation of how people use the Economic Cenusus.

County Business Patterns is published every year. One is issued for each state. While these documents are not as detailed as the Economic Census Reports, they are fairly current and give a good overview of all business activities for each state, county by county.