Census Transportation and Population Data

 

The datasets provided below consolidate publicly-available information from a variety of Census Bureau data products, including American Community Survey (ACS), ACS Commuter, and Census Transportation Planning Products (CTPP). For example, the datasets include information about population ages, worker counts, access to vehicles, and commute modes. They have are provided here, filtered to only New York State and at a variety of geographic scales relevant for transportation planning, to help facilitate broader access by NYSDOT and its partners. Together, these datasets provide a more complete picture of commuting behaviors and population characteristics at the County, Census Tract (approximately 4,000 people in each), and Census Block (smallest level of available Census data) levels.

The American Community Survey (ACS) is a companion survey to the decennial census, which helps to identify trends in demographics between census years through surveys of a sample of American residents. LODES data uses Unemployment Insurance earnings data, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) provided by state governments along with ACS data to create statistics and spatial information on employment, jobs, and job commute flow. ACS Commuter data indicates where people work, when their trip starts, how they get there, and how long it takes. CTPP data are a special spatial tabulation of this same data that describes worker demographics, residences, workplaces and flows from the home to work at a more granular level.

Data Format: 

All datasets are provided in both Esri file geodatabase format and as a comma separated value (CSV) file. Geodatabases can be opened in GIS software and CSVs can be opened in Excel. 

Update Frequency: 

The Census Bureau releases updated survey data annually. The datasets used here reflect the 2023 release. 

Data Timeframe: 

ACS data are based on 5-Year survey results, which aggregate survey responses over the five year period prior to release. 

Data Access: Public

Access the data through the following links at either the County, Census Tract, or Census Block level. 

Esri File Geodatabase	CSV	Metadata
Census County Level GDB	County Level Census CSV	County Level Metadata
Census Tract Level GDB	Tract Level Census CSV	Tract Level Metadata
Census Block Level GDB (Long Island)	Block Level CSV (Long Island)	Block Level Metadata

 

Data Dictionary or Metadata: 

Use table links above to access metadata specific to various datasets.