Civic News

This Census explorer visualizes the last five years of Delaware data

The Delaware Census Explorer, from Open Data Delaware's Chris Williams, does a great job illustrating key trends in the state.

Open Data Delaware's Census Explorer looks at changes in home values across the state, among other things. (Screenshot)

A lot can change in a few years. In 2012, Vine was launched, took over everything and became obsolete by 2016. Five years ago, Instagram was only for iPhone. Obama was reelected. Ah, what a time.
Chris A. Williams, Open Data Delaware Code & Coffee co-organizer, has been working on a Python-based project that applies the data visualization skills that C&C organizer Ryan Harrington demonstrated at the group’s most recent meetup.
But while Harrington used the open data of the Brandywine Hundred Library, where the workshop was held, Williams used data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.
The Delaware Census Explorer shows social changes in Delaware from 2012 to 2016, including population, employment, income and housing value. For example:

Unemployment fell from 2012–2016. (Screenshot)

Unemployment fell from 2012–2016. (Screenshot)


Unemployment dropped throughout the state, with 14,339 fewer unemployed people in 2016 than 2012 (hey, some good news). This fall was most dramatic is Sussex County, where the drop was a whopping 57.30 percent. Kent’s unemployment rate only went down by 23.33 percent, with NCCo hovering just above the state’s overall 31.56 percent drop.
You can also look at the data for New Castle county’s four regions. Here, you can see that while the county’s unemployment rate went down, in Wilmington (NCCo East Central) there was an uptick in 2016:
A closer look at unemployment data. (Screenshot)

A closer look at unemployment data. (Screenshot)


Basically, Williams has simplified the Census data so that it’s easier to see trends and anomalies. And it’s pretty addictive, too.
See the site
Williams and Harrington, when not being Open Data organizers, both do work for Compass Red. A third Open Data Delaware cofounder, David Ginzberg, met Williams at the 2015 National Day of Civic Hacking when they both lived in Washington, D.C.
Williams moved to Philly in February, but he hasn’t left Delaware behind.
“I’m also involved with Code for Philly, but am glad to still be active with Open Data Delaware,” said Williams. “My girlfriend lives in Trolley Square, so that helps. In Philly I primarily work on the campaign finance project Leverage. Not much to see right now, current site shows 2015 election data. We’re working on a complete rewrite, inspired by the campaign finance work I did in Delaware.”
You can see that work here. As for the Delaware census explorer, it is a work in progress. Keep an eye on Open Data Delaware for updates.

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