Please cite the corresponding article if this dataset is used to support additional findings:Leon-Moreta, A. "Ballot Measures for Open Space Conservation: Economic and Institutional Processes in Cities." Urban Affairs Review (2019): 1-34. doi:10.1177/1078087419884732.The data described here were used in the analysis and findings reported in the article, Leon-Moreta, A. "Ballot Measures for Open Space Conservation: Economic and Institutional Processes in Cities." Urban Affairs Review (2019): 1-34. doi:10.1177/1078087419884732. A STATA (V. 13) do-file for calculating variables is also included. Please cite the corresponding article if this dataset is used to support additional findings.https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1078087419884732Cited Datasets:The dataset described here cites data from the following sources:Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2002–2012. Consumer Price Index. https://www.bls.gov (accessed March 27, 2018).Berry, William, Evan Ringquist, Richard Fording, and Russell Hanson. 1998. “Measuring Citizen and Government Ideology in the American States, 1960-93.” American Journal of Political Science 42(1): 327-348.Census Bureau. 1987–2012. Census of Governments. Washington, DC: Department of Commerce.Census Bureau. 2000. Census of Population and Housing. Washington, DC: Department of Commerce.Census Bureau. 2005–2014. American Community Survey. Washington, DC: Department of Commerce.Census Bureau. 1988–2011. Boundary and Annexation Survey. Washington, DC: Department of Commerce.International City/County Management Association. 1996–2011. Municipal Form of Government Surveys. Washington, DC: ICMA.National Center for Charitable Statistics. 2000–2010. IRS Business Master File. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.National Historical Geographic Information System. 2001–2011. National Land Cover Database. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota.Trust for Public Land. 2018. LandVote®. Landvote.org (accessed March 27, 2018).Trust for Public Land. 2000, 2005, 2010. National Conservation Easement Database.National Agricultural Statistics Service. Census of Agriculture. Washington, DC: United States Department of Agriculture.Woods & Poole. 2000 through 2010. MSA Profile. Washington, DC: Woods & Poole.

Context

This dataset expands on my earlier New York City Census Data dataset. It includes data from the entire country instead of just New York City. The expanded data will allow for much more interesting analyses and will also be much more useful at supporting other data sets.

Content

The data here are taken from the DP03 and DP05 tables of the 2015 American Community Survey 5-year estimates. The full datasets and much more can be found at the American Factfinder website. Currently, I include two data files:

1. acs2015_census_tract_data.csv: Data for each census tract in the US, including DC and Puerto Rico.
2. acs2015_county_data.csv: Data for each county or county equivalent in the US, including DC and Puerto Rico.

The two files have the same structure, with just a small difference in the name of the id column. Counties are political subdivisions, and the boundaries of some have been set for centuries. Census tracts, however, are defined by the census bureau and will have a much more consistent size. A typical census tract has around 5000 or so residents.

The Census Bureau updates the estimates approximately every year. At least some of the 2016 data is already available, so I will likely update this in the near future.

Acknowledgements

The data here were collected by the US Census Bureau. As a product of the US federal government, this is not subject to copyright within the US.

Inspiration

There are many questions that we could try to answer with the data here. Can we predict things such as the state (classification) or household income (regression)? What kinds of clusters can we find in the data? What other datasets can be improved by the addition of census data?