City Profile Project: Census Profile

Your assignment is to research and write a census profile of your chosen city. You should consider which of the following questions is important and pertinent to your city. The challenge is not the find the information; instead, the challenge is to pick the most important pieces of information and present that information in a streamlined, coherent fashion.

Do NOT simply list statistics. Instead, your report should combine a narrative with select graphics and tables to provide a clear and detailed profile of the city. Graphs and tables can either be inserted into the text or their place can be noted with a [Insert Table X here], with the tables and figures numbered, in order, in the document and at the end of the document. If you get any data from a source other than the census, please note the source. You may want to compare your city to the state overall (see: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/12000.html) or to the nation (see: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html). 

The final document should be more than 1 ½ pages and less than four pages, double-spaced, in 12-point font, including all images and graphics.

Some statistics that you might want to consider are below. This is far from an exhaustive list of the characteristics that you can pull out of the census (see: plumbing in housing for an example), but it is a good place to start.

a.      

Population

a.      

What is the population? How has the population changed since 2000? 1990? Can you find year-by-year population data? How has the population changed over each year?

b.     

Age and Sex

a.      

What is the median age in the community? What percent of the community is 16 and over? What percent is 18 and over? What percent is 65 and over? Are there differences in sex?

c.      

Race:

a.      

What is the racial composition of the city? Consider making a pie chart of the racial composition of the city and describe the pie chart in text. Only use the major race categories, unless there is a compelling reason to do otherwise.

b.     

How much has the racial composition changed in the city since 2000? 1990?

d.     

Nativity and Language:

a.      

What percent of the population is born in the United States? What proportion of the foreign born population are citizens?

b.     

What percent of the population speaks English at home? What percent speaks English less than very well ?

e.      

Housing and residence:

a.      

What percent of the housing is occupied?

b.     

What are the homeowner and rental rates?

c.      

What percent of the housing is owner-occupied?

d.     

What percent of your city lived in their current resident a year ago?

f.      

Households:

a.      

How many households are there?

b.     

What is the average household size?

c.      

What percentage of households have someone under 18? Over 65?

g.     

Education

a.      

How much of the population is in school? What percent of the population is in school? Elementary school? Middle school? High school? College and post-secondary?

b.     

What percent of the population has a high school diploma? What percent has a BA or high? What percent has a graduate or professional degree?

h.     

Income and Poverty

a.      

What is the median household income in the city? What percent relies on public assistance? Food stamps?

b.     

What percent of the population lives under the poverty level? Are there differences in family status, gender, age, and race in poverty level?

i.       

Employment

a.      

What percent of the population is in the workforce? What percent is unemployed? What are the primary occupations of the workforce? What industries do they work in? How far is the commute?

j.       

Businesses

a.      

How many businesses are there in the city? What kinds of businesses? How much money did they make in the last year?

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