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This might be a stupid question but I would like to download 2010 Census Block Data for several towns and I can't seem to find it on American Factfinder. Is it there? And if not, does anyone know where I could find it?

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That website is a total trainwreck. I feel your pain. – Nathanus May 6 '11 at 15:19
Only the "redistricting data" have been released, which is happening now in May 2011. See 2010.census.gov/2010census/data . – whuber♦ May 6 '11 at 15:27

4 Answers

up vote 6 down vote accepted

It is on the new version of American Factfinder and don't feel bad, even Census Bureau employees are confounded by the new site.

Example for population and housing for Newark, DE:

  1. Go to http://factfinder2.census.gov
  2. Under Topics choose People > Basic Count/Estimate > Population Total and Housing > Basic Count/Estimate > Housing Units
  3. Click on Geographies, a window for selecting geographies opens.
  4. In Geography Filter Options choose Summary Level > 100 - Block
  5. Then Within State > Delaware
  6. Then Within Place > Newark

  7. Under Geography Results check All Blocks within Newark city, Delaware click the Add button above or below the results.

    It should look like this: enter image description here

  8. Close the Select Geographies window.

  9. Under Search Results click on (QT-PL) Race, Hispanic or Latino, Age and Housing Occupancy 2010
  10. Click the download button and choose your format.

Have fun working the data into something you can use.

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Note that this only works for cities, not towns. – neuhausr May 11 '11 at 13:23
It works for towns for me. With what town are you having problems? – Sean May 11 '11 at 15:15
Ex: Hassan Twp in Minnesota (or Alexandria Twp in NJ). Once you pick that Geography, the only Summary Levels available are County Subdivision (the total) and Census Tract. It seems like for sub-county units, only Census "Places" have the "All Blocks Within" option? Probably depends on how the Census classifies things in each state. – neuhausr May 12 '11 at 13:20
Townships are different from towns by Census Bureau definitions. Part of the confusion is that town and township are often synonymous in MN. You're right that there is no filter for townships and other Minor Civil Divisions (MCDs). The data that is there now is for redistricting and MCDs probably aren't a priority because they are so inconsistent across the country. Look for it to be an option in the future. – Sean May 12 '11 at 13:40
up vote 6 down vote

http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/tgrshp2010/tgrshp2010.html allows you to download census blocks by county.

Update: the TIGER/shapefiles does not have any demographic data - if that's what you are looking for you would need American FactFinder.

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Thanks! Though I guess i should have specified. I actually am looking for the demographic data at the block level. – user573163 May 6 '11 at 15:34
I think that only has the geography, the population data isn't attached. – neuhausr May 6 '11 at 15:35
Correct, the TIGER/shapefiles does not have any demographic data - for that you would need American FactFinder. – Bjorn Svensson May 6 '11 at 15:48
Right, and apparently they don't have that data yet: ask.census.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/356/kw/census%20block/… – user573163 May 6 '11 at 15:54
@user573163, that link is from the 2000 Census. The Census released the New American FactFinder earlier this year (it's factfinder2.census.gov vs. factfinder.census.gov) – neuhausr May 6 '11 at 16:33
up vote 2 down vote

To get a whole state's data, you can use the ftp option here: http://www.census.gov/rdo/data/2010_census_redistricting_data_pl_94-171_summary_files.html That's probably overkill, but since with FactFinder you 1) can't select a town's blocks by themselves (only cities or counties) and 2) can't download (in my experience) a whole county's blocks through FactFinder, that may be the best option. You might check if the state has released the block data in an easier to manage format, too.

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Here's the procedure I've used to get blocks for a city: sos.state.mn.us/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=10061 – neuhausr May 6 '11 at 15:55
You can download some counties by block. Large counties will give an error. – Sean May 11 '11 at 15:18
You must have some smaller counties--I haven't found one in MN that I can download blocks for through FactFinder. – neuhausr May 12 '11 at 13:29
up vote 1 down vote

just download the block data and then get the demographic profile summary file...
DPSF information pdf
DPSF page

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