Build Data from the American Community Survey

Source: R/build_acs.R, R/memoise.R

Creates a dataset, using the decennial census information, with the standard variables used for redistricting. Creates a stable base for getting data from censusapi for common calls in redistricting.

#' # Output columns are:

  • GEOID: Geographic Identifier

  • NAME: Name of County

  • pop: total population

  • pop_white: total population, Non-Hispanic White

  • pop_black: total population, Non-Hispanic Black

  • pop_hisp: total population, Hispanic

  • pop_aian: total population, Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native

  • pop_asian: total population, Non-Hispanic Asian

  • pop_nhpi: total population, Non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander

  • pop_other: total population, Non-Hispanic Other

  • pop_two: total population, Non-Hispanic Two Plus Races

  • vap: voting age population

  • vap_white: voting age population, Non-Hispanic White

  • vap_black: voting age population, Non-Hispanic Black

  • vap_hisp: voting age population, Hispanic

  • vap_aian: voting age population, Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native

  • vap_asian: voting age population, Non-Hispanic Asian

  • vap_nhpi: voting age population, Non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander

  • vap_other: voting age population, Non-Hispanic Other

  • vap_two: voting age population, Non-Hispanic Two Plus Races

  • geometry: sf geometry

Arguments for geography are not checked, so will error if invalid. This is by design to avoid blocking usage that could become valid.

Currently valid options for geography:

  • 'state'

  • 'county'

  • 'tract'

  • 'block group'

  • 'block'

  • 'county subdivision'

  • 'zcta'

  • 'congressional district'

  • 'state legislative district (upper chamber)'

  • 'state legislative district (lower chamber)'

  • 'school district (unified)'

  • 'school district (elementary)'

  • 'school district (secondary)'

build_acs(
  geography,
  state = NULL,
  county = NULL,
  geometry = TRUE,
  year = 2020,
  survey = "acs5",
  groups = "all"
)

mem_build_acs(
  geography,
  state = NULL,
  county = NULL,
  geometry = TRUE,
  year = 2020,
  survey = "acs5",
  groups = "all"
)

Arguments

geography

Required. The geography level to use.

state

Required. Two letter state postal code.

county

Optional. Name of county. If not provided, returns blocks for the entire state.

geometry

Defaults to TRUE. Whether to return the geometry or not.

year

year, must be 2000, 2010, or 2020 (after August 2021)

survey

whether the get estimates from the 5-year ('acs5'), 3-year ('acs3'), or 1-year ('acs1') survey. Default is 'acs5'.

groups

defaults to 'all', which gets pop and vap. If 'pop', only gets pop. If 'vap', only gets vap. Any other strings default to 'all'.

Value

tibble with observations for each observation of the geography in the state or county. Data includes up to 3 sets of columns for each race or ethnicity category: population (pop), voting age population (vap), and citizen voting age population (cvap)

Examples

if (FALSE) {
# uses the Census API
tb <- build_acs(geography = 'tract', state = 'NY', county = 'Rockland', geometry = TRUE)
}