only use one data source
Right now you have cities over 65,000 under the new ACS 2021 1-year data, and all others under the ACS 2020 5-year data. Unfortunately, these are two separate data sources so for statistical analysis, it's improper to compare, say, Cleveland with adjacent smaller suburbs. The database mixes them up, but I would keep ACS 2020 5-year until the 2017-2021 ACS 5-year Estimates come out in December and then switch to that, so that all census data is sourcing from the same estimates.
Anthony
shared this idea
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Ari
commented
Yes, please allow users to choose which data release they are viewing. Currently the data source sneakily shifts between ACS 1-year and ACS 5-year depending on what table the user pulls up. This is easy to miss, meaning many users are surely mixing data by accident. Further, there is currently no easy way for a user to choose the data set they want, which significantly undermines the utility of this otherwise great tool. I'm surprised this issue came up almost two years ago and still hasn't been resolved.
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Thanks for this suggestion. Note that the Census Bureau also recommends against comparing 1-year and 5-year releases which have the same end year, since the pool of data is different.
If you choose a data table which includes some geographies that are only in the 5-year, Census Reporter should use the 5-year estimates for all geographies, even those which may also be in the one year: for example, table B01003 for all places in Cuyahoga County: https://censusreporter.org/data/table/?table=B01003&geo_ids=160|05000US39035&primary_geo_id=05000US39035
Since this one already has 3 votes even though it was only opened yesterday, we'd be happy to hear more if folks disagree or just don't understand.
