Tech Tips

Tools to assist you when working with the 2010 Census [P.L. 94-171] Summary File data.

Due to session constraints in American FactFinder, users who want to download all blocks within a state should use the FTP site for their files. Technical support in the form of readme files and records layouts are available for SAS, Microsoft ACCESS, and for the traditional Decennial summary file format.

Creating a GEOID from an American FactFinder (AFF) extract of the 2010 Census [P.L. 94-171] Summary File data using Excel. Creating a GEOID from an AFF extract. [PDF] 1.3MB (NOTE: For extracts that exceed Excel 2003's ~65,000 or Excel 2007's ~1,000,000 record limitation, it is suggested that an alternate method of preparing the data, such as Access or SAS, be used.)
- How to use the American FactFinder to pull all tabulation blocks within a place.
Using file transfer protocols (FTP) for accessing and importing the 2010 Census [P.L. 94-171] Summary File data using the Access 2003 or Access 2007 shells.
- How to use the provided MS Access shells to import and extract the summary file data. How to use Access Shells.pdf [PDF] 880KB
- NOTE: In some large states, the combined size of the data tables may exceed the size limitation of Access. This can be overcome by using multiple Access databases and then linking the tables from each of the databases. Please contact 301-763-4039 should you encounter this problem and need assistance.
Using file transfer protocols (FTP) for accessing and importing the 2010 Census [P.L. 94-171] Summary File data using the SAS scripts.
- All three SAS import scripts combined
- GEO Header SAS script alone and Data file part 1 SAS script alone and Data file part 2 SAS script alone
Important documentation for users of the Microsoft Access database shells and SAS scripts.
- Readme file [PDF] 104KB
- File Structure [PDF] 516KB
A listing of the components of a GEOID for commonly used geographies will be provided here. These should be used when preparing the data in Access or SAS to generate the GEOID for linking to the TIGER/Line shapefiles GEOID10 field. GEOID Components
Many geographic support documents are available on the U.S. Census Bureau's Geography Division products page. Several examples of the information that can be found on this page are; geographic hierarchy diagrams, state area measurements and internal points, terms and concepts, new incorporations (2000-2010), urban area information, and tallies of geographic entities. 2010 Census Geographic Products

Additional 2010 Census data products and programs from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Demographic Profiles FTP AFF
Summary File 1 Technical Documentation FTP AFF
Summary File 2 Technical Documentation FTP AFF
Count Question Resolution (CQR) program Web Page

Address Search - Find census data by entering a street address.

This tool opens American Fact Finder's Address Search tool which provides a quick way to discover geography associated with a user supplied address and then to view data for that geography.

Please call the Census Redistricting Data Office at (301) 763-4039 should you have any questions.