Lornet Turnbull Dispatch Staff Reporter America took a snapshot of itself last April 1. Now its new portrait is starting to emerge. From household surveys completed last year, the U.S. Census Bureau has begun issuing a wealth of data profiling the changing look of neighborhoods, cities and counties. So much can change in 10 years,'' said Nancy Reger, statistician for the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, which uses census data to help track the region's transportation needs and for other purposes. People get married.
Kids move out.
Politicians, lawmakers and government leaders aren't the only ones who care about how communities are changing. Demographic data they cull from the massive survey help determine the kind of junk mail and telemarketing calls sent to residents' homes, where hospitals and highways will be built and how the borders of congressional and legislative districts will be redrawn. The census is a gold mine,'' said Roger Blackwell, professor of marketing at Ohio State University. Those with the right sticks and shovels will find gold in them there hills. Census data often are the basis for demographic forecasts private firms develop throughout a decade.