Very interesting. population 3,174 white 98% black 1% hispanic 0% aisian 1% other 0% Yeah this wrong shows my area 97% white 2% hispanic........there is none in my area
I guess for small towns where there are only 100 people, yeah, I doubt it is that accurate. But for places where people actually live, it can give you a good idea of the racial diversity (or lack thereof) in an area.
This thing is complete nonsense. It shows "other" living in our house and a black across the street. The person across the street is white and has been white for many years. The most ridiculous result is showing four whites, two blacks and two hispanics living in the large area along the river where the city has test wells. (Our city water is well water from the Saginaw Aquifer. They sample the ground water for pollutants.) The only "people" living there are rabbits, deer, woodchucks, squirrels, you get the idea. They also have a white and an hispanic living in a factory off another street. They don't show any sheep which is probably correct
I think the Asians in this thread are focusing too much on the dot locations, and not enough on the actual point of the map, racial diversity stats. I thought Asians were supposed to be smart?
Where my mom lives... there are over 36,000 people (in her town). She lives in Cook County... which has a population of over 5 million people. It's inaccurate in her area... inaccurate in my area in Central IL. (which by the way, there are at least 600 people in town.... not the zero as in the ACS map) And it's inaccurate where I used to live (population 30,000 +) in a county of just over a half million people. So, it's not just the small towns. The whole thing is based on randomly selected households, randomly sending in an obtrusive long census form. It's very flawed.
I bet its accurate within a few percentages. I am not sure why a few on here are so upset that its not 100% accurate in their neighborhood. Its just a sample with a percentage margin of error. Do I doubt, that over 60% of Baltimore is black? Not at all. Do I doubt that LA County is mostly hispanic? Not at all Do I doubt that Compton is 80% black, again, no brainer. If they are off here and there, big deal.
Smart enough not to waste our money on over priced beer. The dot thing is completely useless. I hope we taxpayers didn't pay very much for that. But scrolling over my town, the percentages by census tract look to be right on. But the stats as you scroll over census tracts are revealing. Of course, if you're familiar with a location you already know the approximate distribution. If you scroll over certain areas in the Upper Peninsula, you run across the occasional area with a large percentage of "other." You have now located the Indian reservations. I don't know if the reservations are included in the census, but not all Indians live on the reservation. If you're a black thinking of moving to Luce County, with a 12% black population, you might want to know that it's accounted for by a state prison located in Newberry. It's interesting though, that, while some areas in my town show a concentration of certain ethnic groups, others seem to be more closely distributed based on the national percentages. If you were a Klan recruiter going door to door, you could readily determine which areas to skip. There are probably areas which would show a large percentage of sheep
You could drive through rural Illinois and figure out that it's mostly white and drive through the east side of C'ville and figure out that it's predominently hispanic too. ...and you wouldn't have to spend over 150 million in tax-payer dollars every year to do it. BTW, The ACS hits up areas with lower populations harder than those in higher populations. So even it's randomness is screwed up. The ACS is inaccurate (it even acknowledges that). It violates the constitution. We already have a census, use that data if you must plot racial information. (which of course is not without it's own problems because many refuse to answer race questions) Seriously, what is with the race questions anyhow? I hear we're supposed to be past the point where race matters and yet it seems like just about every government form I fill out asks about race. It's no business of the federal goverment. Nor is what time I go to work, how many cars I have, what I pay for my mortgage, insurance, how many phones I have........ if my toilet flushes... lol. (really, they ask that)
