Men spent more time in leisure activities than did women in 2013

On an average day in 2013, nearly everyone age 15 and over (95 percent) engaged in some sort of leisure activity, such as watching TV, socializing, or exercising. Of those who engaged in leisure activities, men spent more time in these activities (5.9 hours) than did women (5.2 hours). Men were more likely than women to participate in sports, exercise, or recreation on any given day—21 percent compared with 16 percent. On the days that they participated, men also spent more time in these activities than did women—1.9 hours compared with 1.3 hours.

More from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Collecting Reliable, Timely and Local Census Data

The Director of the Census, John H. Thompson was asked about the challenges to survey data collection, the availability of the data and the impacts to the American Community Survey... What would happen to the survey if it were not mandated by law... Research shows that a voluntary survey would reduce the self-response rates significantly. To make up the shortfall, Census would have to increase the number of households surveyed and conduct much more in-person follow-up, at an additional cost of more than $90 million annually. If Census weren’t able to increase the number of households surveyed it would collect much less data and accuracy would decrease due to increased sampling variation. This would disproportionately affect the accuracy of the results that we produce for many small areas and small population groups.

Ideology Influences Community Preference

From Demo Memo:

Would you prefer to live in a community where 1) Houses are larger and farther apart but schools, stores and restaurants are miles away? or 2) Houses are smaller and closer to each other, but schools, stores and restaurants are within walking distance?

That question is posed by Pew Research Center in its 2014 Political Polarization in the American Public survey. The results of the survey show not only growing political polarization between liberals and conservatives over the years, but also that liberals and conservatives are divided by the type of community in which they would prefer to live.

Overall, the public is about evenly split in its community preference, with 49 percent preferring a larger house farther away from amenities and 48 percent preferring a smaller house in a walkable community. By political ideology, the split is anything but even, however...

2013 Characteristics of New Housing

Using data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction, this report provides annual statistics on the characteristics of new privately owned residential structures in the four U.S. regions. The report includes characteristics such as the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the type of exterior wall material, the buyer’s source of financing and the structure’s square footage.

This year’s release includes an interactive graphic with a pictorial representation of the single-family characteristics.

Wall Street Worried About Working Class

America’s working class has an unlikely advocate: Wall Street.

Long known for caring more about its own profits and bonuses than the minimum wage worker, even members of Wall Street are raising concerns about the snail’s pace at which wages are rising, according to The Wall Street Journal’s E.S. Browning.

"Without a real acceleration in wages it is hard to get a meaningful pickup in consumer spending," senior Bank of America Merrill Lynch U.S. economist Michelle Meyer told the Journal.

Despite a U.S. economy that created more than 200,000 jobs a month for four consecutive months — a first since the late 1990s — the number of jobs is not even close to squaring with population growth, according to Browning. Seven million additional jobs are needed to account for the rise in working-age people since 2008, according to the Journal.

More from Newsmax

Births in 2013

At first glance, the 2013 estimate of births in the United States might seem ho-hum. The number changed little: the 3,957,577 estimate of 2013 was only 4,736 greater than the 3,952,841 of 2012 and remained at a level 8 percent below the all-time high of 4,316,233 in 2007.

On second glance, the estimate is startling. Although the overall number of births held steady, the fertility rate fell to a new all-time low of 62.9 births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44. This is 9 percent below the rate of 69.3 in 2007. Even more startling is the plummeting fertility of young women. In 2013, the fertility rate of women in three age groups--15 to 19, 20 to 24, and 25 to 29--fell to new record lows. In other words, never before have young women had so few children.


More from the Demo Memo

U.S. Cluster Mapping Project

The U.S. Cluster Mapping Project is a national initiative that provides open data about regional clusters and economies to support U.S. business, innovation and policy.

The project is led by Professor Michael Porter through Harvard Business School's Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration.

"This tool reinforces the federal government's commitment to promote America's clusters and provide businesses and organizations with the data and strategies they need to capitalize on their region's assets," said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker.

Please note that this is the Beta version of a website that is still being refined and developed.

US State Department phone directory

Telephone Directory
Included these categories:
-Abbreviations and Symbols
-Country Offices
-Field Offices
-Foreign Chanceries
-Geographic Index
-Key Officers
-Liaison Offices 
-Office Symbols
-Organizational Directory

Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE)

Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) are produced for school districts, counties, and states. The main objective of this program is to provide updated estimates of income and poverty statistics for the administration of federal programs and the allocation of federal funds to local jurisdictions. Estimates for 2012 were released in December 2013. These estimates combine data from administrative records, postcensal population estimates, and the decennial census with direct estimates from the American Community Survey to provide consistent and reliable single-year estimates. These model-based single-year estimates are more reflective of current conditions than multi-year survey estimates.

Census Bureau QuickFacts

QuickFacts tables are summary profiles showing frequently requested data items from various Census Bureau programs. Profiles are available for the nation, states, counties, and places

For New York State.
For the United States.

New York State Statistical Yearbook

The New York State Statistical Yearbook is published annually by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government in cooperation with the Office of the Governor and the New York State Division of the Budget. Similar to the Statistical Abstract of the United States, the Yearbook is organized into chapters focusing on specific governmental functions or subjects, such as Education, Transportation, and Finances.

At the beginning of each of these 15 sections, “Highlight” information is provided along with a listing of tables in that section. For most of the tables, data are presented for the five boroughs of New York City and the 57 counties outside New York City. The Yearbook has been available online since 2002.

The Center for Governmental Research: Serving the Public Interest Since 1915

George Eastman, the visionary leader who created Eastman Kodak, founded a bureau of municipal research in Rochester NY in 1915 “to get things done for the community” and to serve as an “independent, non-partisan agency for keeping citizens informed.” Over more than 9 decades CGR has grown from a bureau focused on the needs of one city into an organization with far broader reach.

Today CGR works to bring clarity to issues that affect the quality of life in communities throughout the Northeast. We work with government, nonprofit and business leaders who drive public policy action and organizational change. We inform and empower leaders by providing fact-based, objective research and analysis and by making recommendations that are achievable. Our clients value the quality of our work, our pragmatic approach and our commitment to remaining independent and non-partisan.

Community Profiles (also called Community Indicators projects) take the pulse of a community over time. Comparative performance data on many topics—from economics to education to health—empower leaders and residents to assess community vitality relative to other communities, the state and the nation.

Our web-based profiles make the information understandable, meaningful and accessible. Each profile is a launching pad for community-wide dialogues about strengths, challenges and opportunities, and a valuable resource for informing community planning and strategy development.

Headwaters: Economic Profile System – Human Dimensions Toolkit

EPS-HDT is a free, easy-to-use software application that runs in Excel, from your desktop, and produces detailed socioeconomic reports of communities, counties, states, and regions, including custom aggregations and comparisons.

EPS-HDT uses published statistics from federal data sources, including the Bureau of Economic Analysis and Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce; Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor; and others.

Census struggles to reach an accurate number on gay marriages

From Pew Research:

Same-sex marriage is now legal in Washington, D.C., and 17 states... Now the federal government’s task is to produce an accurate count of same-sex married couples.

Acknowledging a “very serious problem” of flawed same-sex marriage data, the U.S. Census Bureau is testing new marriage and relationship questions on its surveys in hopes of producing more accurate numbers in the next few years. According to a presentation earlier this month, the bureau found problems with the data “much worse” than the agency expected.

There is intense interest in the numbers and characteristics of same-sex married couples, as a growing number of states have legalized same-sex marriage and the federal government—reacting to a Supreme Court ruling last year—has expanded the rights of those couples. The numbers are important to know as a measure of how society is changing, to gauge the well-being of same-sex married-couple families and to help government agencies assess the need for various types of programs. For example, marital status can affect eligibility for some programs such as welfare and food stamps.

World's tallest, deepest, most voluminous, most costly human-made structures

As an Infographic

Find Health Professional Shortage Areas by State & County

Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) are designated by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) as having shortages of primary medical care, dental or mental health providers and may be geographic (a county or service area), demographic (low income population) or institutional (comprehensive health center, federally qualified health center or other public facility). Medically Underserved Areas/Populations are areas or populations designated by HRSA as having: too few primary care providers, high infant mortality, high poverty and/or high elderly population. More about shortage areas.

Stats INDIANA: data not limited to the Hoosier State

STATS Indiana is the official digital data center for the State of Indiana. It provides easy access to critical statistics for states, counties, cities and towns, townships, regions, census tracts and more.

Most useful is the Find By Value tool. For basic peer finding, users should use the linked rank lists included in the profile. These lists give immediate peers within a state, or for all states, for most data in the USA Counties in Profile. Just click on the hyper linked rank number next to the desired item.

2013 Characteristics of New Housing now available

The report provides annual data on the characteristics of new privately owned residential structures in the U.S. and the four Census regions. The data are collected by the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC). The report includes characteristics such as the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the type of exterior wall material, the buyer’s source of financing, and the structure’s square footage.

Program of Applied Demographics at Cornell

The Program on Applied Demographics (PAD) brings skills in demographics, economics, statistics, data gathering and data analysis together to provide a variety of organizations with data, information and advice. PAD works closely with the New York State Department of Labor, the U.S. Census Bureau and other organizations to assist them in their activities. Examples of PAD's activities can be found here.

PAD is part of the Cornell Population Center, a university-wide program serving 96 affiliates from 24 different departments and is housed in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University.


Here are county profiles and recent trends for New York State.

Guess which 2 states make up half of global military expenditure

From BoingBoing:

Frienemies United States and China make up about half of the entire world's military expenditure, according to this infographic by SIPRI. The full report is here.