We use cookies to understand how the website is being used and to ensure you get the best possible experience.
By continuing to use this site, you consent to this policy.
About cookies
MONDAY, JUN 24, 2024
Are you curious how to unlock the potential of the American Community Survey for your organization, agency, or business? Read on in this series to learn how to use Social Explorer’s unique, customizable tools to create a table that shows the metropolitan statistical areas with the highest median household incomes in real time.
We’ll start on Social Explorer’s landing page:
On the left side, we’ll click on the “Tables” button underneath the “Create new” button. That takes us to the table screen.
Next, we’ll click on “American Community Surveys (5-Year Estimates) to get some options. Pro tip: The five-year estimates are generally more accurate than the 1-Year Estimates shown below since they include a far larger sample size.
Once we’ve checked to make sure that the table moved into the bottom box, we’ll click on the green “Show results” button:
Since we’re working with 940 metro and micro areas, we probably don’t want to have to just sift through almost 200 pages. The easiest solution is to download the mapping data into a basic spreadsheet. Here, we’ll go to the “Data Download” tab above the results:
When you click the green hyperlink, your data will download. You can retrieve it from your computer’s default download location and open it as a spreadsheet. Another pro tip: Use the “Do Not Convert” option in Excel. This prevents codes from being truncated, and the codes can come in handy if you plan to use the data with another database:
Finally, check to make sure that all the data was imported correctly. I usually delete the second row, since those are codes, as well as any blank columns. A final spreadsheet might look like this:
Since it’s a spreadsheet, you can now sort, filter, add formulas (i.e., to account for inflation), and use your mapping tool data for whatever is needed. Enjoy!
Already using Social Explorer? Log in.