Press Release: CITY PLANNING UNVEILS NYC POPULATION FACTFINDER - DCP

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For Immediate Release
April 19, 2018

Contacts:
Rachaele Raynoff, Joe Marvilli – press@planning.nyc.gov (212) 720-3471

CITY PLANNING UNVEILS NYC POPULATION FACTFINDER

An online population profile tool

April 19, 2018 – The Department of City Planning (DCP) today launched its New York City Population FactFinder. The new online tool enables users to easily define study areas within New York City and examine detailed population characteristics and how these have changed over time.

Marisa Lago, DCP Director, said, “This new application brings core Census data to the fingertips of New Yorkers. Having this detailed information about our City’s diverse population empowers individuals and communities. Population Factfinder advances the de Blasio Administration’s continuing commitment to harness technology in the public interest and enhance transparency.”

Joseph Salvo, DCP’s Population Director, said, “Population Factfinder will be a must-have application for communities, municipal agencies, policy makers, researchers, planners, non-profits, students, businesses and many others. It allows users to easily access data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau and underscores the importance and power of that information to localities.”

Incorporating the latest release of the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, the Population Factfinder provides comprehensive data, including details about New York City neighborhoods such as languages spoken, housing, education, and other attributes.

The data are aggregated and provide no individual personal information about residents.

Its easy-to-use design enables users to:

Build study areas using different geographies, from small to large: blocks, tracts, NTAs (Neighborhood Tabulation Areas), or PUMAs (Community Districts)

Examine attributes for areas along subway lines

Compare profiles for a selected study area vs. another area (neighborhood, Community District, borough, or New York City )

View change over time to understand how characteristics of a study area have changed

Get ”tooltip” explanations on selected topics

Save and share web links for selections

Use the application on a mobile device

Users can select from different profile tabs drawing on Decennial Censuses and the American Community Survey (ACS). The five tabs are:

Census—basic demographic and housing data from the decennial censuses

Demographic (ACS) - population statistics such as age and race

Social (ACS)—characteristics such as language, educational attainment, disability, and ancestry

Economic (ACS)—information on employment, commuting, occupation, income, poverty status, and health insurance coverage

Housing (ACS)—detailed housing figures on vacancy rates, overcrowding, vehicle availability, housing value, and rent

The possibilities for using the data are wide-ranging:

Transit advocates can research characteristics of residents around certain subway stations with the help of the Population Factfinder subway map overlay.

Policy experts can study housing or economic characteristics of City Council districts.

Emergency services agencies can estimate the number of potential evacuees with a disability.

Looking to see how a neighborhood’s age groups compares to the city? How many people require language services in an area? How school enrollment has changed over time? The median household income in an area? Population Factfinder is the key to all sorts of valuable information.

Population Factfinder also flags results of questionable reliability, so users can be confident in employing the data.

As access to the most up-to-date socioeconomic and housing information is critical to researchers, communities and decision makers, DCP has designed the application to be regularly updated as new data are released.

Department of City Planning
The Department of City Planning (DCP) plans for the strategic growth and development of the City through ground-up planning with communities, the development of land use policies and zoning regulations applicable citywide, and its contribution to the preparation of the City’s 10-year Capital Strategy. DCP promotes housing production and affordability, fosters economic development and coordinated investments in infrastructure and services, and supports resilient, sustainable communities across the five boroughs for a more equitable New York City.

In addition, DCP supports the City Planning Commission in its annual review of approximately 450 land use applications for a variety of discretionary approvals. The Department also assists both government agencies and the public by advising on strategic and capital planning and providing policy analysis, technical assistance and data relating to housing, transportation, community facilities, demography, zoning, urban design, waterfront areas and public open space.