Counting California is shutting down
June 1, 2008. Learn more.
- General Overview
- Data Discovery
- Data Display
- Feedback
- Titles, Datasets, and Technical Documentation
- General Overview
Counting California is a research tool from the California
Digital Library that provides users with "one-stop-shopping" for government
data and statistics about California. It is a collaborative project
funded by the Library of California and CDL, with additional federal funding
from a Library Services and Technology grant. The purpose of Counting California
is to enhance California citizens' access to the growing range of social science
and economic data that government agencies produce. In a departure from more
static formats, this database's interface will allow users to access the
actual raw data compiled by federal, state, and local government agencies.
Counting California allows users to simultaneously search or browse data
from several different government produced datasets. See About Us for additional information on Counting California.
- Data Discovery
Glossary
A glossary of terms is available for US Census Bureau datasets; go to glossary.
Definitions and other information specific to
County Business Patterns
is available from the US Census Bureau.
For all others, you will need to contact the agency who produced the data (the agency name is located below each table)
Search
What is being searched
The Counting California search engine searches the descriptive information (publication title, table title, table column headings [where possible] and table concepts/subject terms) for all the titles/studies on this site.
How to search
To begin your search, type in a search word or a few words, select the title/study
that you would like to search and hit the "search" button or press
the "enter" key on your keyboard. Any items that include all your
search words in their descriptions will be found.
Use of boolean operators AND, OR, or NOT
By default, the search engine looks
for records that include all of your search terms. It is not necessary to
type AND between words. You can use the Boolean operators AND, OR, or NOT
in searching.
Examples:
race or age
Retrieves materials that contain either the words race or age.
race not age
Retrieves materials that contain race but excludes those materials that contain
the word age.
Capitalization
The search engine ignores all capitalization.
Example:
Households
Retrieves materials that contain Households and households.
Truncation
Truncation (*) is available; however, it can only be used at the end of a
word.
Examples:
educational
Retrieves materials that contain the exact word educational
education*
Retrieves materials that contain the words education and educational, etc.
Advanced Search
The advanced search page offers you the following search options:
- Keyword: you can enter a single word, several words or an exact phrase using quotes (e.g., "place of birth").
- Table Title: Use this option if you know the name of a particular table
- Topics: You can search by the topic terms assigned to each
table. Use the pick list to choose up to 10 topics. By
holding down the "ctrl" key (or command key for mac) while clicking,
you can select multiple topics. A complete list of the topics
is also available on the "Browse Topics" page.
- Agency: Use the pull-down menu to limit your search to a
particular agency. See the "Agency"
page for those included in this site.
You can also limit your search to all Titles, one Title, or one or more Titles. To search all Titles, leave the default with the box "All Titles" checked. If you want to choose a particular Title, simply click in the box next to the year(s) you would like to search.
Browse
Our data discovery system offers users a variety
of ways to browse the contents of Counting California:
- By topic: Each of
Counting California's individual data elements bears a topic heading of its
own. As a result, users no longer need to know which agency created the data
they seek, or even the exact title of the table that contains it. Users can
look by topic within an individual table or across Counting California's
entire contents to get a broader perspective.
- By geography: Most
of the data included in Counting California is geographically tagged, which
means that most types of data (such as crime, economic, or education data)
are most often associated with a specific geographic area. Much of the data is
available at the state, county, or city level. Users can focus on a
single geographic area or choose data from a cluster of counties. Once users have
selected a geographic area, they can then explore further by topic. Due to the
variability of data, not all titles and view options are available from the "Browse
Topics by Geography" page; learn more about
what's available.
- By title: Counting California
contains several unique datasets (see Counting California Titles and
Datasets for more information). Each can be accessed individually. For
example, users may choose to select and browse by topic only within the
contents of the California Statistical Abstract.
- By agency: The data in Counting California comes from a variety of California state and federal agencies.
Quick Facts
Quick Facts: California and County Quick Facts are tables that show frequently
requested data items from various datasets in Counting California.
The County Quick Facts also include information on the origin of the State
and counties' name, when the county was incorporated, the state and
federal legislative districts, the county seat, address, and county government
web site.
- Data Display
- HTML Tables: most of the data in Counting California
are presented in html tables. Depending on the data and the geography for a
particular dataset users can "drill down" by clicking on the column headers or
the geography headers.
- MS Excel Tables: all of the data from the California
Statistical Abstract are presented using MS Excel. If you do not have
MS Excel you can get a free viewer from Microsoft. The Microsoft Excel Viewer 2003 allows users to view
and print Excel spreadsheet files, in addition to other Excel for Windows
(versions 2.0 and greater) and Excel for the Macintosh (versions 2.2a and
greater) spreadsheet files. This small, freely distributable viewer gives
users the flexibility to view page layout, copy and control cell sizes, and
access the zoom and AutoFilter features.
- Maps, Charts and Graphs: once you have located
data you can map or chart the variables by following the directions on the
screen.
Downloading Data
Users can download data to their local machine
for use in a spreadsheet program. Once a user has located the data
simply click on the download data as link in the Work
with this data toolbox at the top of the table. The data will
be downloaded in comma
separated value (CSV) file format which an
be used with many spreadsheet programs and databases.
Internet Explorer users:
Select download data as: [csv]. When the dialog box appears select Open this
file from its current location then
select Save this file to disk.
Netscape users: Select download
data as: [csv]. When the dialog box appears select Save file...
Printing Tables
Users can format tables for printing.
Once a user has located the data table select display: [ print
format] from the Work with this table from the shaded box
at the top of the table.
- Feedback
We welcome and encourage your feedback on Counting California. We would like to know what works
and what doesn't work in terms of functionality. In addition, we would
also like to know what type of content our users would like to see added
to Counting California. If there is a dataset that you would
like to see added to Counting California please let us know by using the feedback button on any of the Counting California pages.
- Counting California Titles, Datasets, and Technical Documentation
California Statistical Abstract
Census of Population, 1970: 2nd Count (California)
Census of Population and Housing, 1980 Summary Tape File 3 (California)
Census of Population and Housing, Equal Employment Opportunity Special file (1980)
Census of Population and Housing, 1990 Summary Tape File 3 (California)
Census 2000 Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171) Summary File (California)
Census 2000 Summary File 1-4 [California]
County Business Patterns, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997
Historical Census Populations of Places, Towns and Cities in California, 1850-1990
Legal Immigration to California, 1990-1998
Legal Immigration to California by County, 1990-1998
Race/Ethnic Population Projections with Age and Sex Detail 1970-2040
USA Counties (California)
California Vital Statistics
- More information and abstract:
- Deaths by Age, by County and Selected City Health Departments, 1998-2002
- Deaths by Race, by County and Selected City Health Departments, 1998-2002
- Deaths by Year of Death, by County, 1998-2002
- Live Births, California Counties, 1990-2002
- Number and Percent of Live Births to Teen Mothers, California Counties, 1990-2002
- Links to other online versions: California Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics
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