The decennial Census has kept us busy this spring, especially as the government released the daily tally of participation. Today’s the last day to mail back forms, so it feels like time to take a breath and recap some of the work my excellent colleagues have done the last few weeks:

– Stories on states and counties beginning to top their response rates from 2000, on hurdles to participation and  Census jobs going unfilled.
– Maps tracking participation and an interactive where you can search rates by state, county or locality.
– A neat interactive explaining how Congress is reapportioned after every Census.

More to come as Census workers fan out to households that didn’t respond. But, of course, this is nothing compared to the deluge we’ll face next spring when Census turns on the firehose of the actual data.

Apr 16, 2010 | Census
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This week, my USA TODAY colleague Paul Overberg and I launched a simple database application to display the Census 2010 mail participation rates for states, counties and 27,000 cities and towns.

Through late April, the Census Bureau is updating the data each weekday. They’ve launched their own interactive map and offer the data in CSV or double-pipe-delimited format (a new one for us). We didn’t want to duplicate the bureau’s map, but we did want to offer something Census isn’t: the ability to quickly find and rank geographies.

Here’s more on how it came together:
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Mar 27, 2010 | Census
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The Pew Research Center’s Census 2010 workshop Jan. 21 featured two panels to help journalists and analysts prep for the decennial count of America and the data dump to follow. Two of my USA TODAY colleagues and I sat in. Paul Overberg, a fellow database editor, led one of the panels.

Pew staff recorded the sessions and is sharing some of the material on its Census site. Here are some of my notes for those who couldn’t make it:

‘Conducting Census 2010′
Presented with the Washington Statistical Society and D.C.-American Association of Public Opinion Research

Robert Groves,  director, U.S. Census Bureau
Constance Citro, director, Committee on National Statistics
Jeffrey Passel, senior demographer, Pew Research Center
Joseph Salvo, director, Population Division, NYC Dept. of City Planning
Scott Keeter, director of survey research, Pew Research Center

Groves led with a broad description of the planning and operational aspects of the count:

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Jan 23, 2010 | Census
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When Daniel Craig hit theaters last year in Quantum of Solace, the 22nd film in the James Bond spy series, his ability to dispatch bad guys (and charming good looks, no doubt) helped it earn $168.4 million. That was enough to rank Solace among the top 10 grossing films of 2008.

But how did Solace fare against the rest of the Bond canon, which stretches back to 1963′s Dr. No? The answer depends on whether you adjust for inflation.

We all know that the price of a loaf of bread isn’t what it used to be. The cost of consumer goods tends to rise each year, except during downturns or various calamities. So, taking inflation (or deflation) into account is the only way to  meaningfully compare dollar amounts over time.

There are plenty of apps just for this. The Bureau of Labor Statistics offers one basic calculator, and there’s another at this site. They’re fine for a quick check, but I’d rather do my own calculations. A web app might not have the latest data. And if you’re adjusting more than a couple of amounts, using a spreadsheet will save time. Here’s an exercise from Bond-land:

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Nov 1, 2009 | Analysis, Census, Excel
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This year’s release of the American Community Survey felt like the opening act for the big show to come. In about six months, every American household gets its decennial Census form, and the release of that data in late 2010 and spring 2011 will open new realms of analysis and visualization. Not to mention effort. Downloading, massaging and understanding reams of data on deadline needs to be experienced to be appreciated.

So, the 2008 version of the ACS was a good warm up. It saw the Census Bureau add questions on health insurance and the number of times a person had been married, among other tweaks. The release also came in the midst of the country’s economic woes, so journalists everywhere were on the lookout for how the data would reflect the recession.

We are fortunate at USA TODAY to have Paul Overberg on our team, one of the smartest Census analysts in the business. We began planning early and scrambled through a busy weekend to put together four stories, an interactive state map and assorted print graphics. Here’s what we did:

Immigrant population dipped last year, Census says
Driving habits alter during recession, Census reports
Housing is getting even less affordable
Census: 76% marry just once; new count for same-sex couples
State-by-state maps on foriegn born, other indicators

Sep 29, 2009 | Census
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