When the Center for Small Towns (CST) at the University of Minnesota Morris was asked to research the need for childcare in rural areas, the center turned to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS).

Tapping in to the data on working parents and the number of children across the state, CSM was able to give child care providers a roadmap to where child care is needed the most.

“Potential child care providers are also concerned with the income level and average for parents in their areas, as these will heavily influence their ability to hire a child care provider,” said Kelly Asche, program specialist at the center.

“Organizations across Minnesota rely on the American Community Survey data to inform sound policy, invest wisely, allocate resources efficiently, and plan for a better future,” said Joan Naymark, executive director of Minnesotans for the American Community Survey and the 2020 Census.

American Community Survey data are particularly useful “because of their ability to provide reliable statistics for small geographic areas, such as neighborhoods and cities,” Naymark said.

Susan Brower, Minnesota state demographer, calls census tracts and block group-level data “our life blood.” The American Community Survey “is the only source for reliable statistics on poverty, race, income and education available anywhere.”

As the former director of market analytics and planning at Target, Naymark knows first-hand how crucial Census Bureau data are to business decision-makers.

Trade associations, chambers of commerce, big and small businesses, and development organizations across the country rely on current demographic, socio-economic and housing data from the American Community Survey to decide where to invest money.

Focus areas include site location and capital investment; tailored, efficient job training; workforce housing; operational decisions such as merchandising; and marketing and business expansion programs.

The American Community Survey is conducted every year to provide up-to-date information about the social and economic needs of communities. The survey shows how people live, from education to housing and jobs. For example, results may be used to decide where new schools, hospitals, and emergency services are needed.

Because the survey are consistent over time and across geographic areas, they are important tools in communities’ quest for jobs, investments and talent recruitment.

Without the American Community Survey, analyzing communities becomes guesswork. Here’s a look at how it’s being used in Minnesota:

Both the Minneapolis and Saint Paul chambers of commerce use the data to analyze the needs of the work force, from transportation to education.
The City of Cloquet, Minn., analyzes the survey to determine housing needs.
Maxfield Research and Consulting, a firm that advises public and private clients on real estate development projects, analyzes the survey data to gauge the housing needs of low-, middle- and upper-income households in large and small communities across the nation.

“City and county budgets are tight,” said Mary Bujold, president of the consulting firm. “If this information were not available, it would mean less accurate information, more short-term errors and potential missed opportunities to provide local communities with information they need.”

Kelly Asche, co-founder of the Goat Ridge Brewing Co. in New London, Minn., used the survey data to track the number of seasonal residents in the region.

“We are operating with the assumption that nearly 60 percent of seasonal residents will make these their permanent homes over the next 10 years as they retire, thus increasing our customer base,” Asche said.

For the Geospatial Analysis Center at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, the survey data is used for hazard mitigation planning, which is required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for pre- and post-disaster grant money.

“Hazard risk assessment of a community is completely dependent on the understanding of the population patterns and demographics of a jurisdiction,” said Stacey Stark, director of the center.

"Minnesota counties are eligible for Hazard Mitigation dollars once they have a FEMA-approved plan. For every dollar spent on FEMA grants, $3.65 is saved."

Areas of greater density, for example, face a greater risk.

The public health department in Dakota County, Minn., uses household income data from the survey overlaid with grocery store locations and transit routes to study access to healthy food.

The county’s community services division is working on a pilot project to understand causes of poverty in two of its most racially-diverse and lowest-income cities by mapping the survey's income, poverty and demographics data.

Todd Graham, the principal forecaster of Metropolitan Council and MetroTransit, said the agencies analyze the survey data at the neighborhood level to determine transit market areas and the mix of transit services. The most influential variables are population concentration and the share of the population without private vehicles. The agencies also use the data to decide where bus stops should go and whether they need to communicate with customers in different languages.

“Census ACS is essential to this analysis as no other data source, public or private, provides language characteristics, vehicle ownership patterns, commuter characteristics and commute choices, detailed at the neighborhood and community level, and with an annual update cycle,” Graham said.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

MN State Demographic Center

658 Cedar Street
Centennial Office Building, Room 300
St. Paul, MN 55155
Andi Egbert
(651) 201-2474
//mn.gov/admin/demography/about/our-work

Minnesota Population Center

University of Minnesota
50 Willey Hall
225 19th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Wendy Thomas
(612) 624-4389
Fax (612) 626-8375

https://pop.umn.edu/

Metropolitan Council

390 Robert St North
Saint Paul, MN 55101
Todd Graham
(651) 602-1322
Fax (651) 602-1674
 www.metrocouncil.org

Minnesota Compass - Wilder Research Center

451 Lexington Parkway North
St. Paul, MN 55104
(651) 280-2663
www.mncompass.org

Haya El Nasser is editor of America Counts: Stories Behind the Numbers and Digital Content Strategist at the U.S. Census Bureau.