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Social Explorer

provides help in using the database

Understanding the Census

Florida

Key geography counts

  • 67 Counties
    • 4,245 census tracts (2010)
      • 11,442 block groups (2010)
        • 484,481 blocks (2010)

Other Florida census geographies

  • 20 metropolitan statistical areas, e.g., the Orlando-Kissimmee MSA encompasses all of Lake, Orange, Osceola & Seminole counties
  • 316 county subdivisions, sometimes with names similar to places contained within them, e.g., Orange County has 6 subdivisions (Apopka CCD, East Orange CCD, Orlando CCD, Southwest Orange CCD, Union Park CCD, Winter Garden-Ocoee CCD)
  • 920 places -- which occasionally extend across county boundaries
    • 411 incorporated places, e.g., Orange County has 13 incorporated places (Apopka, Bay Lake, Belle Isle, Eatonville, Edgewood, Lake Buena Vista, Maitland, Oakland, Ocoee, Orlando, Windermere, Winter Garden, Winter Park)
      • 268 cities, 124 towns, 19 villages
    • 509 census designated places, e.g., Orange County has 33 census designated places, including Alafaya, Aloma, Bithlo, Christmas, Four Corners (area includes part of Lake, Osceola, & Polk counties), Goldenrod (area includes part of Seminole County), Union Park, and University
  • 983 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs)

Census Tract Maps

Measuring America: The Decennial Censuses from 1790 to 2000

How-To Videos from Social Explorer

Getting Started:

  • Map basics
  • Creating reports from a map
  • Creating custom reports using the Report tab
  • Creating and using slideshows

More exercises to try

After you've worked your way through the exercises in the Step-by-Step tab:

  1. With the U.S. demographic map showing the entire United States, change the drop-down selection to ACS 2006-2010 Census Tract. Select the [report] button and generate an "Ancestry - Place of Origin" report, selecting by point, for Florida. Note that a separate report would be needed to capture "Detailed Asian & Hispanic Origin."
  2. With the U.S. demographic map showing the entire United States, change the drop-down selection to the 1850 Census, then select the [report] button and generate a "Libraries" report, selecting by point and clicking once in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida.
  3. In the U.S. demographic map view, change the drop-down selection to the 1870 Census and then zoom in to Florida until you can see the outlines of the counties (actual lines along each county border, not just color shading, with or without the county names displaying). Then select the [report] button and generate a "Religious Organization Report", selecting by drawing a circle centered about 50 miles west of Tampa with the edge of the circle overlapping with at least a portion of each Florida county. Note: the circle will probably include a few counties in Alabama and Georgia. After you generate the Excel file you can delete the non-Florida columns.
  4. On the Reports tab, select "Census 1870" in the left column. Add "United States" to the geography selection, then change the geographic type from "Nation" to "State" and add "Florida" to the geography selection. Change the geographic type to "county" and select "Florida" as the state, then select "All Counties in Florida" and [Add] them to the selection. Select the [Next] button, then add table T1 and tables T46 through T50 to the Table Selection. Show Result.