F.A.Q.

• I'm looking for the Machine Readable Data Center and Wendy Treadwell. Am I in the right place?
• Does the Census Bureau have all of the census data available on-line?
• I can't find the geographic level I need on the Census site.
• How do I find data for a specific racial/ethnic group (characteristic iteration) in Summary Files 2 and 4? I'm looking but I don't see where to make this selection.
• I need to extract a lot of data from the 2000 Census and find it difficult to do from the Bureau's system. What are my options?
• I'm looking for EEO data like I got from the Machine Readable Data Center in the 1990's. Where do I go?
• Do you have data for other parts of the country?

I'm looking for the Machine Readable Data Center and Wendy Treadwell. Am I in the right place?

YES! In 2000, the Machine Readable Data Center within the University of Minnesota Libraries closed and moved its data, services and staff into the Minnesota Population Center. My name changed from Treadwell to Thomas around the same time.

Does the Census Bureau have all of the census data available on-line?

No. The data from the 2000 Census is complete, but data from the 1990 Census is limited to Summary Tape Files (STF) 1 and 3. There are many more data tables available from STF 2 and 4 as well as detailed information on specific racial/ethnic groups, for example, data on the Hmong or Puerto Rican populations. The MPC has this data available on-line in the National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS). Additional historical data going back to 1790 will be added to NHGIS over the coming year. Access decennial census data available from the US Census Bureau here. For a detailed pick list of data from 2000 and 1990 go here.

I can't find the geographic level I need on the Census site.

The Census Bureau's default geographic pick list does not include all the geographic levels for which data is available. There is a link just above the "Select a geographic type" box that reads "Show all geography types". Click on this to get a display of the full list of geographic types.

How do I find data for a specific racial/ethnic group (characteristic iteration) in Summary Files 2 and 4? I'm looking but I don't see where to make this selection.

Fortunately they've improved this process and made it a lot clearer. Racial or Ethnic selection is now a normal selection page that comes up AFTER you have selected your table. NOTE: If you wish to add a racial or ethnic group to more than one of the tables selected, you need to highlight all of those tables in the first selection box. If you simply select a racial or ethnic group from the second list and "add" it, it will only be added to the first table in the list (which is the only one highlighted when this page comes up.

I need to extract a lot of data from the 2000 Census and find it difficult to do from the Bureau's system. What are my options?

First, you can download the full files for any state or the national level file along with the documentation directly from the Census Bureau site. Go to the main Census 2000 site and select the summary file you need from the list in the right column under the red Census Data header. Near the bottom of the page for each summary file will be a link to FTP Download and Documentation. Down load the documentation file and any data files you need. If this is more data than you care to handle yourself, we can provide you with customized data sets from any of the available files. Download the documentation files to determine what tables and geographic areas you will need.

I'm looking for EEO data like I got from the Machine Readable Data Center in the 1990's. Where do I go?

In 2000, the Machine Readable Data Center within the University of Minnesota Libraries closed and moved its data, services and staff into the Minnesota Population Center. EEO data with all the fields available in the 1990 reports is available for download for the most commonly requested areas in Minnesota. Additional areas are available for a fee.

Do you have data for other parts of the country?

Yes,we have all the aggregate and microdata census data for the US that is available in electronic format at the MPC. The microdata is available through the IPUMS system and the aggregate data will be available through NHGIS. Data extracts from the aggregate data files not yet available through NHGIS can be obtained by contacting Wendy Thomas.