.. new/updated annual county population estimates … counties, and county equivalent areas such as independent cities, are the primary political subdivision of states. The relative stable geography of counties, with good national scope geographic granularity, makes these areas appealing for use in tabulating data as well as analyzing data. This section provides information on tools and data related to accessing, integrating analyzing county demographic-economic patterns and trends focused on the latest official county population and components of change estimates (through 2014, released March 2015). See related Web page for more details.
Using GIS Tools to Examine Patterns of Population & Change
The following view illustrates use of Geographic Information System (GIS) tools to visually examine demographic characteristics of Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC MSA region by county. The thematic/color pattern shows percent population change 2010-2014. Labels show county 2014 population. Develop this type of view for any metro or region.
— view created using CV XE GIS and associated CountyTrends GIS Project
— click graphic for larger view showing details.
See the Metro Profile for this metro. See more about metros. Click on a metro link in the in the metro interactive table to view a similarly structured profile for any metro.
Population Components of Change
Annual population and components of change estimates for each county, 2010 though 2014, are included in the dataset used in the create the map shown above. Similar thematic pattern maps can be generated for any county/region for any of these items, or computed items such as birth rate.
Population components of change are shown in the population identity:
P[i,t] = P[i,t-1] + B[i,t] – D[i,t] + MD[i,t] +MI[i,t]
for the ith geographic area; t: year
where the components of population change are:
– B[i,t] … births in area i in year t
– D[i,t] … deaths in area i in year t
– MD[i,t] … domestic migration in area i in year t
– MI[i,t] … international migration in area i in year t
County Population & Components of Change Interactive Table
Use the interactive table in the related Web section to interactively view, rank, compare annual population and population components of change for all states and 3,143 counties. For counties that are part of a metropolitan area, the table includes the new and previous metro (CBSA) codes.
The following graphic illustrates use of the interactive table. A query is used to view only those counties in the Charlotte metro. These rows/records are then sorted (dbl-click column header) on the Census 2010 population. It can be seen from the table that Mecklendurg County has the largest Census 2010 population (919,628) and the metro Census 2010 total population is 2,217,012.
— click graphic for larger view showing details.
Examining Characteristics of Individual Counties
Click on the Mecklenburg County link in the interactive table to view an extended profile for the county (available for any county) as shown below.
— click graphic for larger view showing details.
Use the interactive table and click on a county link to view a similar profile for county(s) of interest.
About the Author
— Warren Glimpse is former senior Census Bureau statistician responsible for innovative data access and use operations. He is also the former associate director of the U.S. Office of Federal Statistical Policy and Standards for data access and use. He has more than 20 years of experience in the private sector developing data resources and tools for integration and analysis of geographic, demographic, economic and business data.
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