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Joining ACS 2015 Data with Census Block Shape files 2015

Mohammed Ayub
over 7 years ago

Hi There,

I'm trying to join the demographics from ACS 2015 data with Block Shape files from 2015 on BlockGroupID (Block Group FIPS code) and see some of Block groups are missing from ACS that are in Census Shape file. I'm wondering what is the reason behind this. I'm new to this kind of geographic data and the group itself. Would love to hear some expect options on how I can get complete information. 

Attached google drive link contains the Block Groups ID (FIPS Codes) from ACS 2015  that did not match with Census Shape file 2015.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B72S8sjziFItS2lJY0JSaUZob0E 

 

Thanks !

 

Regards,

Mohammed Ayub

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  • over 7 years ago
    I'm not sure which data tables you are using from ACS 2015, but there is some data suppression for geographies where the margins of error are larger than the estimates. You can see an explanation and list of affected tables here: www.census.gov/.../2016-01.html
  • over 7 years ago in reply to Maribeth Todd
    Hi Maribeth,
    I'm using the data from this site. www.census.gov/.../tiger-data.html
    "2011 - 2015 Detailed Tables" -Block group National File -Geodatabase (.gdb file)

    So the tables mentioned in the link might not have all the block groups in them ? Good to know. Anyways I combined all the 22 demographic tables/files into one and replaced columns codes with names for our convenience to do analytics.

    Thanks !

    Regards,
    Mohammed Ayub
  • over 7 years ago in reply to Mohammed Ayub
    You are correct that the tables mentioned in the link might have missing block groups, but that doesn't explain your problem.

    I think something might be going wrong with your data processing, or else there is a problem with the national block group files. I looked at the South Dakota state geodatabase from the link you provided and I don't see the geographies that you list as missing in the geometry file or the data tables. And looking at the missing Virginia block group numbers, I don't think they exist either (there is no county with code 515).
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  • over 7 years ago in reply to Mohammed Ayub
    You are correct that the tables mentioned in the link might have missing block groups, but that doesn't explain your problem.

    I think something might be going wrong with your data processing, or else there is a problem with the national block group files. I looked at the South Dakota state geodatabase from the link you provided and I don't see the geographies that you list as missing in the geometry file or the data tables. And looking at the missing Virginia block group numbers, I don't think they exist either (there is no county with code 515).
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