U.S. Census Bureau

Guide to the Economic Census
Guide to the
2002 Economic Census

2002 Economic Census on American FactFinder®

 American Factfinder
American FactFinder (AFF) is a database system that gives you access to the same Economic Census data that are also published in PDF. The advantage with FactFinder is that you can search directly for the data you want, can display data for all available sectors at once, and can download the results for further manipulation.  AFF also provides access to all of the data published on DVD-ROM.

AFF includes all 2002 Economic Census geographic area series, industry series, and subject reports. A comparison identifies other reports available only in html format and not in AFF.

Building a Query Quick Reports Creating a Map Limitations to AFF

Quick Reports

 American Factfinder

Selecting Economic Census data sets on AFF main page To access the Economic Census part of American FactFinder,

  • start at factfinder.census.gov
  • hover your mouse over “Data Sets” in the left column
  • select “Economic Census” in the pop-up menu.

Selecting Quick Reports from AFF economic census page

Select "Quick Reports", the first link under 2002 Economic Census and Surveys

There are three kinds of Quick Reports:

The first two Quick Reports duplicate functions available more easily elsewhere (see the Industry Statistics Sampler and navigate to industry or geographic area data). But the Product Quick Reports provide something unique.

Example: What kinds of businesses sell the most tobacco products?

1. Select "Quick Reports" on the Economic Census data sets page, if you haven't already.

Quick Reports page

2. Under "Product Quick Report", click "select by product"

Select product page, top

3. Type in "tobacco" in the text box, select "Use synonyms" and click "Search".

4. In the box at the bottom, cursor past the manufacturing codes, and, under 44: Retail Trade, highlight "20150: Cigars, cigarettes, etc..."

Select product page, bottom

5. Click "Show Result". The illustration below shows highlights of a longer table.

Note that, at the top of the report, it is possible to pull down a menu for printing or downloading the data.

Quick Reports results for 20150 Cigars, cigarettes, ...

The "Print/Download" button allows you to save a comma-delimited - spreadsheet format (.csv file) or a tab-delimited (.lst file). Comma-delimited files are easily imported into most spreadsheet or database programs.

The reports for manufacturing and mining look a little different, providing more detailed product categories.

American Factfinder Ready to try it for yourself? Click on the FactFinder icon. 

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