Unemployment Rate by Census Tract

Is it possible to get the unemployment rate by census tract level?  I could not find it in the census reporter.

https://censusreporter.org

Thanks!

Robin

Parents
  • Just a heads up...
    The Unemployment Rate from the ACS will be a five-year average if you're looking at tracts, or any other level smaller than mid-size cities.  Even for the larger cities, counties and metros, the data is a couple of years old by the time it's published.  For something as time-critical as  the unemployment rate, this may be meaningless for your purpose.
    For the most recent job stats (incl unemployment rate) use the BLS :LAUS, and it will be only about two months old.  The downside is the smallest geography is all counties and many mid-size cities.

Reply
  • Just a heads up...
    The Unemployment Rate from the ACS will be a five-year average if you're looking at tracts, or any other level smaller than mid-size cities.  Even for the larger cities, counties and metros, the data is a couple of years old by the time it's published.  For something as time-critical as  the unemployment rate, this may be meaningless for your purpose.
    For the most recent job stats (incl unemployment rate) use the BLS :LAUS, and it will be only about two months old.  The downside is the smallest geography is all counties and many mid-size cities.

Children
  • LAUS geography varies by state.  In Massachusetts it includes all 351 cities and towns, as well as counties and other geographies.

  • Bert, do you know if/how this affects the specific occupational codes (SOCs) at the tract level? I'm using ACS data now that have been appended to the Add Health study, and the codes they provide for tract-level occupations do not sum to 1 (indeed, they sum to a mean of 2). I found that odd but perhaps it's an artifact of the 5-year nature of the data. 

  • Good question, Adam.  You may be on the right track.  The inner workings of the 5-year datasets are a mystery to me.
    I'd like to believe that the Census Bureau, in its infinite wisdom, does some adjustment so the 5-year average skews towards the present.  Otherwise, 5-year stats for a red-hot area like Boise are going to be far from the present-day reality.
    But that totally does not address your question.  Sorry!