Note: For source and production information, see the What MassGIS Provides section on the main MassGIS Census 2000 Web page.
 

ATTRIBUTES

The polygon attributes (census2000blockgroups_poly.dbf and census2000blockgroups_poly_orig.dbf) for the Census 2000 Block Groups shapefiles distributed by MassGIS contain the following items:
 

ITEM NAME		TYPE / WIDTH		DESCRIPTION
AREA		N / 20		Area of polygon(s) in square meters.
PERIMETER		N / 20		Perimeter of polygon(s) in meters.
STATE		C / 2		State ID Code. (Massachusetts = 25)
COUNTY		C / 3		County code (FIPS-ID without “25”)
TRACT		C / 6		Census 2000 Tract Code
BLOCKGROUP		C / 1		Census 2000 Blockgroup Code
BG_ID		C / 20		Unique Blockgroup ID value
CT_ID		C / 20		Unique Census Tract ID value
BLK_COUNT		N / 3		Number of blocks in the blockgroup
LOGRECNO		C / 7		Common field to join/link to related attribute tables
TOTAL_POP		N / 10		100% Count of Population (from SF1)
SAMP_POP		N / 10		Sampled Count of Population (from SF3)
DRY_PCT		N / 8		Percentage of non-water area for the block
DRY_ACRES		N / 12		Non-water area, in Acres
DRY_SQMI		N / 10		Non-water area, in Square Miles
DRY_SQKM		N / 10		Non-water area, in Square Kilometers
** - For the most accurate display of population density by Block Group, normalize TOTAL_POP by any of the last three items.

Note: The 100% population counts and the sampled population counts for any given census block group will often have different values. This is due to the nature of sampling and extrapolation techniques in statistics. It is recommended that when using SF1-derived data, the 100% population count be used, whereas when SF3-derived data is used, the sampled population should be utilized instead in order to maintain consistency between the headcount and the tabular values.

The following tables, extracted from the SF3 tables and available in dBase format (.dbf), which provide detailed demographics information, may be joined to the Block Groups shapefiles on the LOGRECNO item. See the Field Descriptions page or see bg_fields.xls (Excel format) and bg_fields.dbf (dBase format).
 

Download All Tables (plus field description table, in a self-extracting Windows executable file; 6.3 MB) or click the Download link after each table description to download that table in a self-extracting Windows executable file

legattrib.dbf
The 63 fields included chosen here were based upon what would be important to lawmakers based on interviews with legislators and other officials. Themes based on these 63 fields are included in the MassGIS Data Viewer and in the Online Census 2000 Viewer (Use Internet Explorer 5.0 or Netscape 6.2 or higher for best performance). Download

education_attainment_by_gender_age.dbf
Lists the breakdown of all individuals age 25 and over by gender and highest level of schooling. Download

education_enrollment_by_gender_age.dbf
Lists the breakdown of all individuals age 3 and over by gender and which enrollment category (groupings of grades) they fall within, as well as private vs. public school distinctions. Download

employment_status_by_gender.dbf
Lists the breakdown of all individuals age 16 and over by gender and their status in the labor force. Download

household_language_spoken.dbf
Displays number of households for each primary base language type spoken at home. Distinguishes between isolated vs. non-isolated language skills. Download

household_size_by_family.dbf
Breakdown of number of households by family vs. non-family status, and number of individuals in the household. Download

households_by_age_family_children.dbf
Shows number of households broken down by age of primary household owner, family vs. non-family household, marital status, and presence or non-presence of children. Download

housing_amenities_by_tenure.dbf
Details how many housing units use certain primary sources of fuel, number of vehicles owned by occupants (renters vs. owners), and number of units with complete plumbing and kitchen facilities. Download

housing_owner_rental_demographics.dbf
Shows number of housing units broken down by owner vs. renter, racial category, age of owners and/or renters, number of persons living in housing units, and occupants per room statistics. Download

housing_rent_statistics.dbf
Lists number of rented housing units within categories specifying amount of rent paid, whether this is contract rent vs. gross rent vs. requested rent (for vacant units), and the amount of rent paid dependent upon number of bedrooms in the unit.  Also lists number of rented housing units with respect to percentage of income allocated for rent. Download

housing_residency_characteristics.dbf
Provides true-count and sampled numbers of housing units, owner vs. renter occupied, occupied vs. vacant, racial profiles of house owners, and number of persons in occupied housing units. Download

housing_rooms.dbf
Breakdown of number of rooms in all housing units, as well as owner-occupied vs. renter-occupied housing units.  Median and aggregate numbers of rooms included. Download

housing_structure_age.dbf
Lists number of housing units built within a given time period.  Also lists the median year that all housing units within a given blockgroup were built. Download

housing_units.dbf
Provides numbers of housing units, broken down by occupied vs. non-occupied, owner-occupied vs. renter-occupied, and the number of units in each house. Download

housing_value.dbf
Shows number of owner-occupied housing units that fall within incremental housing value categories.  Includes median housing values. Download

income_by_familytype.dbf
Number of families vs. non-families that fall within incremental income categories, as well as median income, aggregate income, and aggregate income of wealthy vs. non-wealthy families. Also includes per capita income. Download

income_by_household.dbf
Lists number of households falling within incremental income categories, as well as median income, aggregate income, and aggregate income of wealthy vs. non-wealthy households. Download

income_poverty_levels_by_age.dbf
Using census definition of poverty based on income, shows how many individuals do and don't meet the federal criteria for "poor" and which age grouping they fall into. Download

population_by_age_gender.dbf
Lists how many members of each gender fall within incremental age categories. Download

population_by_race.dbf
Racial breakdown of population. Distinguishes between 7 major categories and their hispanic vs. non-hispanic counterparts. Download

transportation_commute_means.dbf
Provides breakdown of number of employed individuals and their various methods of transportation commuting to work. Download

transportation_commute_time.dbf
Commuting to work travel times for the employed non-work-at-home population.  Broken into time intervals and reflects mode of transportation. Also lists non-commuting population. Download

---

• OVERVIEW
• WHAT MASSGIS PROVIDES
• Census 2000 Blocks
• Census 2000 Block Groups
• Census 2000 Tracts
• Census 2000 TIGER Linework
• Census 2000 TIGER Water Bodies
• Census 2000 TIGER Towns
• Environmental Justice Populations
• CONSIDERATIONS WHEN USING TIGER DATA
• OTHER RESOURCES

 

Last Updated 7/31/2003
EOEA Disclaimer | Privacy Policy