It’s unusual for us at CHN to write about a wealth of anything, but we are delighted to offer you a wealth of American Community Survey data on how people are faring in your state, congressional district, or major metropolitan area.  

Of course, we offered our webinar preparing you for the data release on September 5, and then shared the recording and slides. We hope that helped you access the data immediately on release. But we know that sometimes it’s hard to find the exact data you want, or you need a reminder on exactly which data is appropriate for what purpose. We also know that as we work together through the year, you may not have the time to go back and find the data you need directly from the Census Bureau website.  

So we are also providing data tables to make it easier to find the data you need. We hope these data tables will serve you well throughout the coming year, as you advocate for human needs in your state or community and as you join us in federal advocacy.  

Here’s our guide to which data sets are best used for what purpose. 

We have a great set of state poverty, income and health insurance tables provided from our essential partner, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities – we are so grateful for their speedy help in producing this information. They cover all states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. 

When you click on the link, you’ll see tabs at the bottom – the first tab is instructions (README) on what the tables provide. 

Then, you’ll see tabs for Total Poverty by Race; Child Poverty (without race breakdowns); Family Poverty (without race breakdowns); Median Income by Race; and Health Coverage by Race.   

We want to mention some important aspects of these tables:  

First, these tables give you both the number of people in poverty and the percentage of people in poverty. 

Second, they show the margin of error. For example, for a given state, first it shows you the total in poverty, and then the number of people that fall within the margin of error-so how much bigger or smaller the total population in poverty could likely be.  

Third, the read me page also tells you how to determine whether there was a statistically significant change in poverty, income, or health insurance in your state. We encourage you to only use comparisons of data if it is statistically significant. If you need help in determining whether there was a statistically significant change in your state, we may be able to help you figure that out. We have some resources available, in September, for individual TA for human needs advocates. Please email Debbie Stein at dstein@chn.org for that help.  

Fourth, these tables use race data based on particular race groups alone, and then show you how many people identify as two or more races. Except for “white alone, not Latino” these categories include people who consider themselves to be either Hispanic/Latino or not Hispanic Latino. The “white alone, not Hispanic” category allows the most distinct comparison to other racial groups.. These tables do not include the more expansive categories of a racial grouping (such as Black) that includes that race alone or in combination with another race.   However, the tables described below do have “alone or in combination” categories.  

These tables are wonderful, but there are other stories you may want to be able to tell.  

Due to the generosity of the Leadership Conference on Human and Civil Rights, we were able to produce some additional tables. Some of those data tables are available now. Some are coming soon.   

So far, we have been able to post tables that give you data on poverty by state, congressional district, and major metropolitan area.  Soon we will also have tables on health insurance, income, housing burden, and some other items. As we post those, we will let you know. 

Here are some things to keep in mind as you use these tables 

First, they do not have the numbers of people in poverty—only the rate (percentage) of people in poverty. We also did not include the margin of error. If you need those, the Center on Budget tables may be more useful.  

However, these tables have three geographic levels (state, congressional district, and metropolitan area), while the Center on Budget tables have just state data.  

In addition, these tables provide more breakouts of data by race and by age. They give you all people, children under age 5, children under age 18, working age adults ages 18-64, and seniors ages 65 and older. Each of these tables has race data.  

These tables also offer a slightly different racial grouping. Like the Center on Budget tables, they provide White alone, not Hispanic, and Hispanics of any race. However, instead of using Black (or other racial groups) alone, they offer the racial group alone or in combination with other races. This allows you to get a more expansive number of people who identify, for example, as Black.  

There is data available on the Census website for other geographies (such as counties and places). There is also some data available for particular racial subgroups, particularly in larger geographic areas, such as Chinese. If you want to try to get that data, we may be able to assist you. Please email Debbie Stein at dstein@chn.org with your request. Keep in mind that the smaller the sample size, the less likely that the Bureau has produced that data because of concerns over protecting privacy. Thus, data on poverty among all Chinese in a state is likely to be possible; data on Chinese children under 5 in a small county may not be.