Downloading and using government data?

Question

I need to put government data into a shape-file (right now I have points locating schools, and have the census tract layout in QGIS (outline of NYC) I just need the poverty data mapped onto this) - if this requires a tutorial I'm fine with being directed to one as well but I am lost overall.

This is not for homework, I am just finally tying to figure out how to visually map onto the screen poverty around certain points so I can see this visually through QGIS the way you can do it with PolicyMap or something else.

(this is my second question)

Answer 1

Is the poverty data that you have in CSV form? If so, to show the data in QGIS, you must go to Layer>Add Layer>Add Delimited Text Layer. In the box that pops up, go to the File Name and click on the three dots to the right. This will allow you to go through the files on your computer and select the poverty data that you have. After selecting the file, look at the geometry definition which is located in the popup box. In the X field of this section, select the Longitude, which should be in the CSV. In the Y field of this section, select the Latitude, which should also be in the CSV. After this is completed, click the add button and the poverty data will be displayed on the map.