2010 ACS Contrast Charts by County and Place

Updated with 2010-12 and 2008-12 ACS (Dec. 2013)

We have uploaded around 2,500 new chart documents based on the 2008-2010 American Community Survey (ACS). The charts compare African Americans, Latinos, and non-Hispanic whites across a range of socio-economic indicators.

The 2008-2010 ACS is the first three-year ACS  to reflect the full impact of the Great Recession.

These documents include most places and counties in the nation with sizable African-American or Latino populations -- i.e., populations over 20,000 that are at least 10% African American or Latino. (Some counties and places that meet these criteria are excluded from this update due to missing population data or data suppression in the ACS.)

Click here to access the directories with the 2008-2010 PDF files.

Documents are up to 64 pages in length, but there are fewer tables and charts for some localities due to data suppression.

November 2012 Update:

Additional chart documents (about 325) from the 5-year 2006-2010 American Community Survey, comparing Native Americans and non-Hispanic whites, are available here.

These documents include all states and counties and places that are at least 10% American Indian with populations of 2,000 or more. The documents are up to 60 pages in length, but there are fewer tables and charts for some jurisdictions that are almost exclusively Native American with little or no white population for comparison.

Also, the 2006-2010 ACS  chart documents (about 1,200) available here provide socio-economic contrast for all states, as well as  counties and places with populations between 5,000 and 20,000 that are at least 15%  African American.

The chart template was developed  for exhibits in Section 2 Voting Rights Act litigation. However, these ACS reports also have broader applicability as supporting documentation for community and economic development initiatives.

State-by-State Block Level 2010 PL 94-171 Files Available for Download

We're making  state-by-state block level  2010 PL 94-171 files available for download.
The dataset uses Maptitude field name nomenclature and includes the same race and ethnic categories as the 2000 PL94-171 block files we posted at the start of the 2000 Census redistricting cycle.

Additional calculated fields for "any part" African American, American Indian, and Asian Americans are included with the 2010 version.

There are 17 zip files -- with two or more states combined and organized in no particular order.

These comma-delimited files are extracts from the Census Bureau files and  include most but not all multi-race and geographic fields.

As of June 1, 2011, we have used these files to develop statewide legislative plans for Virginia and South Carolina, as well as 35 local redistricting plans in a dozen states.

A nationwide point shapefile depicting 2010 group quarters blocks that we prepared for the Prison Policy Initiative is available here:

http://www.prisonersofthecensus.org/data/2010/groupquartersshapefile.html

For Maryland redistricting, use the adjusted population data that reassigns the correctional population, released  by the Maryland Department of Planning.

http://www.mdp.state.md.us/redistricting/maps.shtml

Redistricting Data Available for All States

The Census Bureau completed the release of the 2010 Census PL 94-171 redistricting file last week. We now have block-level databases loaded into Maptitude for Redistricting for the entire country.

Redistricting plans for local jurisdictions (our specialty) usually require block-level detail in order to deal with the multiplicity of factors involved in drawing election districts.

We've added a few more places where we have provided technical redistricting assistance (for community groups, politicians, or government entities) since our posted list last month. These include:

Florida

Miami 

Mississippi

Chickasaw County
Oktibbeha  County
Webster County
City of Grenada

Virginia

State Senate
US Congress

Northampton County
Sussex County
York County

City of  Norfolk
City of Williamsburg

Wyoming

Fremont County (Large v. Fremont)

In addition, we are providing ongoing technical support for a national project to end prison-based gerrymandering sponsored by the Prison Policy Initiative.

We conduct online live redistricting sessions via  join.me. Plan maps are produced for Maptitude for the Web, Google Maps, or as Adobe PDF files.

Initial draft plans (with PDF maps and stats) can usually be produced in four hours or less for local jurisdictions. For community groups, an initial draft alternative plan is often all that is needed.

Rates are $125 per hour for government entities and litigation services, with discounts for non-profits. No community-based group is turned away due to inability to pay.

Two Majority African American Congressional Districts Possible in Virginia

Two majority African-American voting age congressional districts can be drawn in Virginia, based on the 2010 Census.

The draft Congressional District 3 displayed below extends along the James River from Richmond and Central Virginia to Hampton on the north and Isle of Wight County on the south.  The draft district has a 50.03% any part African American voting age population and is 59% voting age minority.

The potential new South Hampton Roads/Southside Congressional District 4 is 50.14% 18+ any part African American and 55.5% minority voting age.

The Petersburg area is split between draft Districts 3 and 4.

As configured in the draft, both districts voted Democratic in the 2008 presidential contest and the 2009 gubernatorial race.

Like the current Congressional District 2, the draft majority-white District 2  is a waterfront district anchored in Virginia Beach. The district also includes the Eastern Shore and portions of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Chesapeake, and Hampton. All parts separated by water are connected by bridges.

The districts are drawn at the precinct (VTD) level and are close to zero deviation.

 Click map to enlarge

PDF map (full extent)

PDF map (Hampton Roads area)

Download shapefile (for plan drawers)

South Carolina Set for Second Majority-Black District

A little over a year ago, we surmised that there was a good chance that a second majority African-American
congressional district could be drawn in the Palmetto State upon release of the 2010 Census. The South Carolina PL 94-171 redistricting file was released yesterday by the Census Bureau. The results are in. A second district can be created.

The map below shows a hastily drawn draft with downstate District 6 at 51.1 % any part African-American voting age and 55.4% minority voting age. Upstate District 7 has a 50.3% any part African-American voting age and 56.3% minority voting age. Both districts are close to zero deviation. The districts were drawn at the precinct (VTD) level.

Click map to enlarge

Download Shapefile (for plan drawers)

2011 Redistricting Underway

The 2010 Census has been released for about a dozen states and we're now producing redistricting plans and election-related analyses. We have imported the demographics into Maptitude for Redistricting software for these states. We'll convert the remaining states within hours of the Census Bureau release. Eight more states will be available this week. (see map)

Thus far, we've prepared draft plans or conducted analyses in the following places:

Maryland

Somerset County

Mississippi

State House
State Senate

Bolivar County
Cleveland School District
Coahoma County
Grenada County
Scott County

Virginia

Powhatan County
Prince George County

New Jersey

State Legislative Districts (prison population analysis)

South Dakota

City of Martin

American Community Survey Contrast Charts

We've just uploaded over a thousand documents with tables and charts from the 2008 American Community Survey (ACS) released this fall by the Census Bureau. The charts reveal socio-economic disparities experienced by African-Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans vis-a-vis non-Hispanic whites.

Click through these directories to download PDF files by nation, state, and selected counties and places (updated February 2012).

The national and state documents are from the 2008 one-year survey and the county documents are based on the 2006-2008 three-year survey.

We've included all counties with estimated populations of at least 20,000 persons, of whom 10,000 or more are African-American or Latino. ACS estimates for counties with fewer than 20,000 persons will not be available until the fall of 2010.

We use charts similar to these for testimony in Section 2 voting rights cases (redistricting). But the charts may also prove useful for local and state advocacy.

The documents are up to 60 pages in length -- but may be smaller depending on sample size and data suppression issues. We've included most of the key variables broken out by race or ethnicity in the American Community Survey. Persons familiar with the the SF 3 long form sample data from the 2000 census will notice differences in the data presented. For example, median home value, median rent, access to a vehicle, and telephone service are not available by race in the 2008 ACS.

The FairData website has several thousand contrast chart documents for most places in the country with significant minority populations, based on the 2000 census.

Thanks to M-SLICE  in St. Louis,  MO for suggesting these contrast chart updates.

Potential New Majority-Black Congressional District in South Carolina

According to the latest population estimates from the Census Bureau, South Carolina is set to gain a new congressional seat in 2011. This means that a new majority African-American congressional district is in the cards.

The map below shows one possible configuration -- without getting into messy little details such as where incumbents live. The map is based on 2006 census tract population estimates (the latest we have available).

District 6 (yellow) has a 56% overall African-American population (about the same as the current District 6) and District 7 (light orange) is 53% African-American. We're cutting it close on the minority voting age percentage in District 7, but the district can be fine-tuned and probably strengthened when precinct-level data is released following the 2010 census

District 6 encompasses predominantly African American neighborhoods in Charleston and surrounding rural areas. The new upstate District 7 would combine parts of Columbia with the Greenville-Spartanburg area.


View Larger Map

There is no guarantee that South Carolina will get a new congressional seat when the actual count for the 2010 census is released. As explained in this post by the Swing State Project, it will all boil down to a few thousand persons. Community census advocates can use our Hard-to-Count Mapper or our Google Map overlays to help focus outreach efforts.

¡Hágase Contar!

Probably the single-most important factor which may contribute to an undercount in the 2010 Census is citizenship status. The Census Bureau estimates that there are 21.6 million non-citizen residents -- an increase of 3 million non-citizens over the 18.6 million reported in the 2000 Census.

The interactive table below shows the percentage of non-citizens for all places in the United States with a current population of 20,000 or more -- based on estimates from the 2006 to 2008 American Community Survey (ACS) released last week by the Census Bureau.

At 41.6%, Hialeah, Florida has the highest non-citizen percentage, with about 86,000 non-citizen residents. New York City has the largest non-citizen population -- about 1.48 million persons (17.8%).

You can search, sort, and filter the data in the table.


View expanded table

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2006-2008 American Community Survey, Table C05001.
Link to ACS tables
Data are based on a sample and are subject to sampling variability. Data are not available for some places because the number of sample cases is too small.

The interactive table below shows the same dataset for all counties with a population of 20,000 or more.


View expanded table

Hendry County, Florida and Miami-Dade County, Florida lead the pack with populations that are over 25 percent non-citizen.

The Census Bureau will not release ACS citizenship estimates for small jurisdictions (under 20,000 pop.) and census tracts until late 2010.

If you need street-level detail, the interactive map described in our July 23, 2009 blog post includes a block-group level thematic map showing the percentage of non-citizens, according to the 2000 census. At a scale of about 5 miles, the block group count of non-citizens (as of April 1, 2000) is displayed in purple boxes.(A related map in this application shows the percentage of the voting age population in 2000 that did not speak English "very well".)

You can also overlay tract-level citizenship info from Stanford's gCensus onto our Hard-to-Count census tract Google Maps using the technique described in this Google Earth Forum post (with map links).

Get out the Count -- Census 2010

The decennial census count has major implications for reapportionment, redistricting, and funding. Groups across America are conducting outreach campaigns to ensure that everyone is counted on April 1, 2010.

The Census Bureau has developed a list of "Hard-to-Count" (HTC) census tracts based on underlying demographic and socio-economic indicators. These are the areas where community-based "get out the count" efforts should be focused. Nearly one-fifth of the population lives in hard-to-count census tracts.

For details on the HTC methodology employed by the Census Bureau, see this PDF document or this one-page summary. Source data is available from the Census Bureau in an Excel spreadsheet.

Some state agencies have web pages with maps depicting HTC tracts -- see, for example, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Indiana. You can also download PDF maps by county from the Census Bureau showing census tract boundaries via this directory.

To help in a small way, we've developed an interactive map that highlights the Hard-to-Count tracts.

To access the interactive map, click the arrow icon or text link below.

Hard-to-Count 2010 Mapper

(added recently released block group HTC scores -- see Map 2 --  11/25/09)
Source: 2010 Enhanced Planning Database

***

Download KMZ File and View HTC Tracts in Google Earth

(3.5 mb --nationwide -- sorted by state and county -- 7/27/09)

State-by-State HTC Tract Overlays on Google Maps

(view and print from browser -- 10/17/09)

View HTC Block Groups in Google Earth  

(organized by state and county for easy export -- 11/30/09)

***

Census tracts are displayed on the interactive map beginning at a scale of about 200 miles. Zoom the map by clicking the buttons at the top and then on the map. Click the INFO tool and then on the area of interest for demographic data from the 2000 census. HTC scores for counties and tracts are displayed near the top of the pop-up INFO window. At a scale of about five miles, the census tracts are labeled with identifying numbers.

Using the Hard-to-Count 2010 Mapper, you can zoom in for street-level detail on tracts where an accurate census count will be problematic (shaded in red). The Census Bureau defines HTC census tracts as those with a profile score of 60 or higher. The national mean score is about 33. Tracts above the mean (with a score between 33 and 60) are shaded green. Tracts shaded yellow have HTC scores below the mean average and are therefore less susceptible to a census undercount.

The Hard-to-Count 2010 Mapper initially displays a nationwide county-level map -- thematically shaded to reflect the mean average HTC score across all tracts in a county. This county average is weighted by the underlying tract populations. Census tracts generally have a population of about 4,000 persons, but the tract-level population varies significantly within and between counties.

Counties in the South, Appalachia, Rio Grande Valley, and Mountain West have the highest HTC mean average scores. Central cities everywhere have numerous HTC tracts.

Additional maps available via the drop-down menu to the left of the map image window provide block group-level detail to further refine census outreach efforts (e.g. citizenship status and Spanish speakers). For details, refer to the notes on the SocioEcon Mapper on the FairData website. All maps are based on data from the 2000 census, except for the undercount map which relies on statistically adjusted data from ACE I released by the Census Bureau in 2002.

The tri-color thematic shading for the HTC interactive map is consistent with HTC maps prepared by Southern Echo. Southern Echo has also developed an excellent Census and Redistricting 2010 Tool Kit for several states.

The Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ) has prepared a series of reports on the undercount in the 2000 census, with a special focus on the South. These reports are especially useful for identifying cities and counties where community outreach is needed to avoid an undercount in the 2010 census.

The materials available from Southern Echo and the Southern Coalition include county-level analyses of the potential negative impact on federal grants due to a census undercount.

Also, the Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network has developed a website -- Nonprofits Count! -- with resource materials and maps to help communities mobilize for the 2010 census. The Funders' Census Initiaitve is another useful Census 2010 resource website, with links to key organizations working on census outreach.

Persons interested in joining or organizing a complete count committee for their community should call the regional census center or visit 2010.census.gov. (See, for example, the Denver Complete Count Committee web page.)

Thanks to Southern Echo and SCSJ's Community Census and Redistricting Institute Planning Committee for their assistance.

Google Gets it Right in PA

Up to now, we've been somewhat disappointed with Google's election maps. But their latest offering for Pennsylvania does a great job of merging election results with demographics via maps, charts, and even a spreadsheet.

The Google Lat Long Blog has the details. We hope the Google Elections Team goes back and produces this sort of county-level analysis for all states.

Our guess is that similar precinct-level maps and charts may be on the way from Google. But this is unlikely to happen on a nationwide scale until the 2012 election. By then, most states will have produced precinct-level datasets depicting the 2008 election as part of the 2010 census redistricting and reapportionment cycle.

In the meantime, we've produced precinct-level Google Earth maps for eight states showing the 2004 election.

More Bush-Gore

Bush-Gore precinct maps in Google Earth KMZ format are now available via the Google Earth forum for two additional late primary states -- Indiana (May 6) and West Virginia (May 13).

Click graphic for larger image.

With Kentucky (May 20) sandwiched in between, it would have been nice to include the Bluegrass State as well. But, alas, there are very few counties where the election data from 2000 matches the 2000 census precinct geography.

The Google Earth files are organized into folders sorted by county,allowing for faster display and easier export to Google Maps. See this map of Kanawah County, WV (Charleston).

As in the Kanawah County Google Map, you may wish to make the colors a little more transparent for Google Maps. You can do this by doing a search and replace on the statewide KML file -- search for b0 and change to 7f.

West Virginia election data could not be matched to precinct boundaries in Cabell County and a few other areas. Indiana is more spotty -- precincts reflecting approximately 80% of the votes cast in the 2000 election are displayed.

There is a lot more demographic and election data available for West Virginia via FairVote2020's West Virginia interactive map. Also, at the end of the web page, you'll find Bush-Gore and 2000 Election Day turnout maps in Adobe format for 60 cities and towns.

This is the first time we have produced a map for Indiana, so you'll have to rely on the SocioEcon Mapper for additional info on Indiana neighborhoods.

Bush-Gore by 2000 Precinct in Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania primary is just a month away. There is probably a statewide GIS database showing Bush-Kerry by precinct, but the gatekeepers at the political party headquarters will never make it available to the public.

Fortunately, Pennsylvania is a state where a Bush-Gore map is just about as useful. So we have uploaded a precinct-level Google Earth map showing 2000 presidential election results in a head-to-head Bush-Gore contest.

You can download the KMZ file from the Google Earth forum, where we have uploaded several Google Earth precinct-level maps from other states showing the 2004 election.

The KML file is organized by county to make it easy to export precincts into Google Maps. Lehigh County (Allentown) is shown below.


View Larger Map

The FairVote2020 Pennsylvania interactive map was probably the most heavily used map on our website prior to the 2004 election. You can query that map for a lot more demographic and voting data than you get with the Google Earth map.

If you need detailed paper maps, you can download Adobe maps for 55 places at the end of the PA interactive map web page.

Felon Disenfranchisement by State

An estimated five million people nationwide are ineligible to vote because of a felony conviction, according to The Sentencing Project. Of these, three-fourths (3.5 million) are no longer incarcerated.

Felon Disenfranchisement Rates by State in 2004

The map below shows the percentage of the voting age population by state that was ineligible to vote in 2004 due to felony convictions.


View Larger Map

The convicted felon population includes incarcerated felons, as well as probationers, parolees and those who have completed their sentences. But felon disenfranchisement varies widely across states depending on state law. Maine and Vermont allow all felons (including those incarcerated) to vote. Kentucky and Virginia have the most restrictive laws, allowing ex-felons the right to vote only when granted by the state after a special appeal.

The Sentencing Project estimates that nationwide there are about two million disenfranchised African American felons, of whom nearly one million are ex-felons who have completed their sentences.

If you sort on the % African American Disenfranchised 2004 column in the interactive table below, you will see extremely high percentages in many states. Ten states had African American disenfranchisement rates above 15% in 2004. Rates for several of these states (for example, Wyoming) are likely skewed due to correctional facilities with out-of-state inmates who return to their home states after release from prison. But there are others in this group with sizable resident African American populations where skewing is not an issue -- i.e., Virginia, Florida, Delaware, and Alabama.



View Expanded Interactive Table


Current State Policy

Five states --Florida, Iowa, Maryland, Nebraska, and Rhode Island -- have implemented major policy changes since 2004. The interactive chart below breaks out states according to their general policy of voting rights for felons.



View Interactive Chart

You can review details on policy changes (major and minor) that have occurred since 2004 via annual updates prepared by The Sentencing Project.

A Decade of Reform: Felony Disenfranchisement Policy in the United States (October 2006)

2006 Annual Update

2007 Annual Update

Sources and Additional Information

The charts and maps displayed above are based on data and an interactive map prepared by the The Sentencing Project. Policy changes that have occurred since December 2004 are not reflected in the numbers.

The Sentencing Project data is not completely consistent with data we used to calculate voter registration rates in previous posts. Those maps and charts rely on survey estimates from the Census Bureau's 2004 Current Population Survey, which excludes persons in correctional facilities and halfway houses from the population base. Non-incarcerated disenfranchised felons are included in the CPS, which means that the voter eligible unregistered population is overestimated by the CPS in states where voting rights are not restored to felons upon release from prison.

In addition to the felon disenfranchisement material from The Sentencing Project, information on this important issue is available on web pages developed by the ACLU (2008 toolkit), the Advancement Project, the Brennan Center, MALDEF, NAACP, and the Prison Policy Institute.

African American Voter Registration Rates by State

In a previous chart, we noted that there are over 7 million Latino citizens who are not registered to vote. Nationally, African-American citizens have a much higher voter registration rate than Latino citizens -- 69% to 58%. But at 7.5 million, the unregistered African American population is just as numerous.

The chart below shows that younger African Americans are less likely to be registered to vote than their parents. About 1.7 million college-age African Americans (43%) are not registered.




The map below shows state-by-state voter registration rates (as a percentage of black voting age population) reported by African Americans for the 2004 presidential election. Registration rates range from a low of 49.7% in New York to a high of 87.6% in Missouri.

Click a state on the map to see detailed stats.

African American Voter Registration Rates by State
(percent of the AA voting age population)


View Larger Map

Due to statistical sampling issues, rates for several states with relatively small numbers of African Americans were not calculated by the Census Bureau. These states are shown in white on the map.

After discounting for the higher non-citizen African American population in states such as New York and Florida, there is less interstate variation. Massachusetts has the lowest African-American citizen registered voter rate -- 54.2%.

View Map of African American Registration Rates by State
(percent of citizen voting age population)

Latino Voter Registration Rates by State

You can review similar state-by-state maps depicting Latino voter registration rates via the links below.

View Map of Latino Voter Registration Rates by State

(percent of voting age population)

Just one state on the Latino registration by voting age map -- New Mexico -- has a rate above 50%.

Once non-citizens are removed from the voting age base, Latino voter registration rates improve markedly -- from a low of 33.3% in Tennessee to a high of 76% in Ohio.

View Map of Latino Voter Registration Rates by State
(percent of citizen voting age population)

Non-Hispanic White Voter Registration Rates by State

With over 37 million voting age persons who are not registered to vote, the non-Hispanic white population is still the big enchilada. Voter registration rates are slightly higher across-the-board for whites vis-a-vis African Americans.

Tennessee (64.1%) has the lowest white registered voter rate as a percentage of the white voting age population, while North Dakota is highest (89%).

View Map of Non-Hispanic White Registration Rates by State
(percent of voting age population)

Sources and Additional Information

These maps and charts are based on a spreadsheet (see table 4a) from the Census Bureau website -- Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2004. A detailed narrative report released in 2006 can be downloaded here.

This Census Bureau report provides state-level voter registration and citizenship rates for the voting age population by race and age group. The data is compiled from self-reported survey responses to the November 2004 Current Population Survey. Unfortunately, the report does not provide registration data for Native Americans even though they comprise a significant portion of the electorate in several states.

Non-incarcerated disenfranchised felons are included in the CPS, which means that the voter eligible unregistered population is overestimated by the CPS in states where voting rights are not restored to felons upon release from prison. See our next post for details on felon disenfranchisement.

See also web-based state profile voter reports comparing the 2000, 2004, and 2006 elections from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Do you need more specific registration detail for local GOTV efforts? Most of the interactive maps we produced leading up to the 2004 election have voter registration data mapped thematically. Four GOTV map sets -- Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina -- show the unregistered African American population by precinct and include hundreds of printer-ready Adobe maps for canvassing.

Zillow Neighborhood Demographic and Poverty Stats

This KMZ file aggregates basic population and poverty demographics for the Zillow neighborhood boundaries.


View in Google Earth (7.5 mb)

We used census block group data from the SF1 and SF3 file of the 2000 census. The map is color-coded by the percentage of the population living at or below the poverty level.

Neighborhood boundaries are sorted by city and state in the sidebar. For faster display, the initial map shows Washington, DC only. Click boxes on the sidebar to display additional states. Use Ctrl-click on the map to display the population and poverty stats by neighborhood.

Block groups are often split by neighborhood boundaries. For the population data by race and ethnicity, it is possible to develop more accurate estimates using block-level data from the SF1 file. However, for the poverty data, block groups represent the smallest unit reported by the Census Bureau.

In a few instances (less than 1 percent), neighborhood estimates could not be derived due to topology errors when converting from the original source Zillow shapefiles. (This includes all of Wake County-Raleigh, NC). You can identify these discrepancies by overlaying the non-color-coded KMZ file posted in the previous entry.

For more detail, remember that you can always overlay SF1 and SF3 datasets from gCensus as discussed in a previous post.

The neighborhood boundaries are made available in shapefile format by Zillow.com under a Creative Commens License.

The entire KMZ file is too large to display in Google Maps, but you can break it up into city-by-city KMZ files and save to Google My Maps.

You'll also need to copy the legend to the state or city folder you have created.



View Larger Map

Zillow Neighborhoods

Here is something that might be useful for voter registration and GOTV efforts. This Google Earth KMZ file contains boundaries for nearly 7,000 neighborhoods in 150 cities. The file is based on shapefiles released by Zillow.com yesterday.

View in Google Earth (6.5 mb)

State- by-state shapefiles are available here:

http://www.zillow.com/labs/NeighborhoodBoundaries.htm

Additional details are posted on the Zillow Blog.

Ctrl-Click on the map to display the city and region ID in addition to the neighborhood name.

For faster load time, Google Earth initially displays boundaries and labels for Arizona only. Click on the sidebar boxes to display additional states.

Labels are sorted by state and city in the sidebar. At some point, we may update the file to include socioeconomic data estimates from the SF3 file of the 2000 census.

Unregistered Latino and Asian-American Citizens

There are about 7 million Latino citizens in the U. S. who are not registered to vote. The table and chart in the figure below show that 5 million of the unregistered Latinos are ages 18 to 44 -- roughly half of the Latino citizen population for that age group.


Over 95% of all Latino citizens who are not registered to vote live in areas defined by the census tracts identified in our previous post. This presents an enormous opportunity and challenge for civic engagement groups working in these areas.

The aggregate number of unregistered Asian-American citizens (3 million) is not as high as the Latino unregistered citizen population, but the percent unregistered is across-the-board higher.


You can get a spreadsheet breaking out voter registration rates by state for citizens of all races and age groups from the Census Bureau website -- Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2004. (See tables 4a, 4b, and 4c.)

Estimated Latino 18+ citizens (2006) by tract

Click graphic for larger image.

View this map in Google Earth (500k)

This Google Earth KMZ file contains nearly 20,000 census tract centroids, representing all census tracts with an estimated 50 or more Latinos of voting age who are citizens as of July, 2006.

These estimates can be used to help set targets for voter registration efforts in Latino neighborhoods.

The tracts are sorted by state, county, and place. For faster load time, Google Earth initially displays Wisconsin only. Click on the sidebar boxes to display additional states.

Use the gCensus web form found here to obtain tract boundaries in KMZ format for your areas of interest.

No census tract in ME, NH, VT, or WV met the 50 person threshold.

Citizenship rates are from the 2000 census. The Census Bureau does not provide citizenship estimates by ethnicity for areas smaller than a census tract.

The 2006 citizen counts are adjusted to take into account population change.

Source: Derived from 2000 Census SF 4 file and Caliper Corporation Time Series Data 2006.

See also: Latino Registered Voters in CA by Precinct (2004). Unfortunately, we are unaware of publicly available information that would allow us to replicate this for states other than California.

Estimated Asian 18+ citizens (2006) by tract

The Google Earth KMZ file depicted in the map below contains over 6,500 census tract centroids, representing all census tracts with an estimated 50 or more Asian-Americans of voting age who are citizens as of July, 2006.

Click graphic for larger image.

View this map in Google Earth (200k)

These estimates can be used to help set targets for voter registration efforts in Asian-American neighborhoods.

The tracts are sorted by state, county, and place.

Use the gCensus web form found here to obtain tract boundaries in KMZ format for your areas of interest.

No census tract in ID, MT, ND, SD, WV, or WY met the 50 person threshold.

Source: Derived from 2000 Census SF 4 file and Caliper Corporation Time Series Data 2006.

GOTV Demographics and Google Earth

Thanks to gCensus, loading demographic information into Google Earth is a relatively simple process. You can produce a Google Earth KML file to visualize demographic and socioeconomic data from the 2000 U.S. Census -- in some cases down to the census block level.

Let's say you want to pinpoint areas in Green Bay, WI for a door-to-door Latino voter registration drive. According to the 2000 census, there were over 7,000 Latinos in Green Bay. (The Census Bureau estimates that the Latino population has grown to 10,000 in 2007).

We know from the block-group level Wisconsin interactive GOTV map that neighborhoods east of the river have significant concentrations of Latinos. Click here to use the interactive map zoomed to the focus area shown in the graphic below. Areas shaded orange are 20% to 40% Latino.

The FairVote2020 interactive map shows detail only to the block group level (encompassing several city blocks), so the block-level detail available from gCensus can help focus the voter registration effort.

Below is a Google Earth graphic showing more detailed block-level data -- highlighting all census blocks in Green Bay with more than 31 persons who are Latino. These blocks are shaded tan to orange with white boundaries. The map dataset was created from Summary File 1 using the gCensus web form found here.

Click here to download the Green Bay Latino KMZ block file -- edited from the original gCensus KML file. The gCensus dataset expresses block population counts as a range, rather than a discrete count. As part of the editing process, we eliminated all but the top three ranges.

In a future post, we will examine an obvious issue -- citizenship status. According to the 2006 American Community Survey, just one-third of the 6,700 Latinos of voting age in Green Bay are citizens.

Note that in order to overlay census blocks on top of the Brown County Bush-Kerry precinct map as in the map above, we changed the altitude settings of the block file to begin displaying at 8 meters.

Because we are focusing on just a couple dozen census blocks, the KMZ file imports into Google Maps with ease.

View Larger Map

For starters, these blocks are the best areas to begin door-knocking in search of new Latino voters.