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There are many ways to access U.S. Census data. At Hunter, we frequently use:
Social Explorer to access all census data, both historical and more current. Decennial Census and American Community Surveys are both available.
In New York City, Population FactFinder is also a great resource. It features many of the most popular fields from a recent American Community Survey dataset for New York City. Using Population FactFinder, you can also compile the necessary tracts that compose a single neighborhood.
The census tract is often used in demographic analysis, particularly in the 100-level Urban Studies courses. As a small and relatively permanent unit of data, it can be helpful in understanding the demographics of a particular community or neighborhood, and can also show change in the community or neighborhood over time.
If you need to identify a census tract for a research project, try one of these three methods:
Data visualization can be an effective way to make effective arguments with data.
There are a number of free, publicly accessible tools that you can use to create data visualizations. A quick search for "free data visualization tools" on your favorite search engine should turn up some good ones.