Age
Age data are reported for five-year age groups and select summary groups such as 18 years and over. These data are ESRI's 2009 projections.
Average Household Size
See Household.
Block group
A combination of census blocks that is a subdivision of a census track. A block group is the smallest unit for which the Census Bureau reports a full range of demographic statistics, about 700 residents per block group.
Buffer
A zone around a location or point on a map that can be measured in time or distance. For example, a store's 15-minute drive-time buffer defines the area in which drivers can reach the store in 15 minutes.
CBSA
Core Based Statistical Areas, which include Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas, are comprised of one or more counties and are defined by the U.S. Office of Management and budget (OMB). Each Metropolitan Statistical Area must have at least one urbanized area of 50,000 or more inhabitants. Each Micropolitan Statistical Area must have at least one urban cluster of at least 10,000 but less than 50,000 population. Under the standards, the county (or counties) in which at least 50 percent of the population resides within urban areas of 10,000 or more population, or that contain at least 5,000 people residing within a single urban area of 10,000 or more population, is identified as a "central county" (counties). Additional "outlying counties" are included in the CBSA if they meet specified requirements of commuting to or from the central counties.
Census Block
A block is a component of a block group. Depending on the area, a block can be considered much like a city block. In rural areas, a block can extend to many square miles. In general, a block is comprised of approximately 34 residents. There are over 8 million blocks in the United States.
Census Block Group
A block group is a collection of blocks and a subdivision of a Census Tract. In general, a block group is comprised of approximately 1,300 residents. There are over 200,000 block groups in the United States.
Census Tract
Tracts are small statistical subdivisions of a county. The boundaries are delineated by local committees to represent relatively homogeneous neighborhoods and to maintain stable boundaries. Census tracts generally have 1,500 to 8,000 residents.
Classification
A schema for dividing map features into a specified number of classes according to selected attribute values. For example, sales territories might be divided into five classes according to the number of accounts they contain. Each class is then assigned a unique symbol to create a thematic or color-coded map.
Color-coded map
Also called a thematic map, it displays geographic areas according to specific values. For example, it could be a map showing census tracts in different colors according to median household income. Light green would represent lower income; medium green would represent a higher income level; and dark green would represent the highest level. A map of drive times is another example of this kind of map.
County
Counties are the primary legal subdivisions of a state and are identified by a two-digit state FIPS code and a three digit county FIPS code. See FIPS Code.
Consumer Expenditure (CEX) data
ESRI has extracted demographic and economic data for households from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and Consumer Expenditure (CEX) diary and interview surveys. Each year of data actually represents a series of independent, quarterly surveys that include approximately 7,500 households or consumer units. Data is combined from surveys to increase the sample size for analysis. Data represents total household expenditures in dollars.
Customer market analysis
A type of analysis that uses mostly customer data.
Customer profiling
A process that establishes a demographic profile of a set of customers by tagging them with demographic values of the geographic area they fall within.
Customer prospecting
A type of analysis that locates regions with ideal demographic characteristics for targeting new customers.
Demographics
The statistical characteristics of a population—income, education, race, home ownership, etc.
Demographic data
The 2009 data include current-year estimates and five year projections for key demographic data. With the exception of the Tapestry Segmentation data, which is not available at the block group level of geography in the standard product, all data is available at Census block group, Census tract, County, State, US, CBSA, DMA, and ZIP code levels of geography.
Diversity Index
The Diversity Index summarizes racial and ethnic diversity. The index shows the likelihood that two persons, chosen at random from the same area, belong to different race or ethnic groups. The index ranges from 0 (no diversity) to 100 (complete diversity). For example, the diversity score for the U.S. is 59 which means there is a 59 percent probability that two people randomly chosen from the U.S. population would belong to different race or ethnic groups.
DMA
A Designated Market Area is a television market defined by Nielsen Media Research. DMAs are revised annually.
Donuts
Donut rings define unique study areas around a centerpoint, such as a store location. They are defined by distance and do not overlap. For example, if you had 5-, 10-, and 15- mile donut rings around a location with 10 households in each, the total number of households in each donut ring would be 10.
Drive times
These are areas defined by distance that can be driven away from a site location within a specified time (in minutes) assuming posted speed limits for the road network. Drive-time polygons (shapes) take into account barriers such as mountains, rivers, bridges, or highways under normal traffic conditions. You can choose up to 300 minutes of drive time to the specified location.
Equal interval classification method
A classification method in which each class has an equal range of values. Use this if your data is evenly distributed and you want to emphasize the difference in values between features.
Families
Households in which one or more persons in the household are related to the householder (formerly, the head of the household) by birth, marriage or adoption. The Census tabulates only one family per household. These data are Census 2000 and ESRI's 2009 projections.
Feature
Store sites, customer locations, streets, census tracts, and ZIP Codes are example of map features.
FIPS Code
Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) for numeric codes used to identify states and counties.
Hispanic Origin
Defined by self-identification, Hispanic origin refers to ethnicity, not race. Persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race. These data are Census 2000 and ESRI's 2009 projections.
Home Value
The estimate of value is presented for total owner occupied units. For a discussion of home value projections, see the Update Methodology. These data are ESRI's 2009 projections.
Household
A household is an occupied housing unit. Household type is identified by the presence of relatives and the number of persons living in the household. Family households, with or without children, include married couples and other families—a male or female householder with no spouse present. Non-family households may be a group of unrelated persons or a single person living alone. These data are Census 2000 and ESRI's 2009 and 2014 projections.
Income
Income amounts are expressed in current dollars, including an adjustment for inflation or cost-of-living increases. For a discussion of income projections, see the Update Methodology. These data are ESRI's 2009 and 2014 projections.
Index
An index is the ratio of a local percent (rate) to a U.S. percent (rate) or other base.
Market Area
An area of people who are likely to purchase your goods or services. Market areas can be determined by the number of customers and any other information about them. For example, for a coffee shop, the market area may be the number of college students within 3 miles of a store location.
Manual classification method
A classification method in which you decide how many values are in each class.
Median
This is a value that divides a distribution into two equal parts. A median is a positional measure that is unaffected by extremely high or low values in a distribution that may affect an average.
Per Capita Income
See Income.
Polygon
A polygon is a hand-drawn area on a map. Draw a polygon to define a study area rather than use census tract, county, state, or ZIP Code area.
Population
This is the total number of residents in an area. Residence refers to the "usual place" where a person lives, which is not necessarily the legal residence. For example, college students are counted where they attend school.
Quantile classification method
A classification method in which each class has roughly the same number of features. Use this method if your data is evenly distributed and you want to emphasize the difference in relative position between features.
Race
Defined by self-identification, race detail from Census 2000 was expanded to include a multiracial component. For the first time, each individual could report up to six race categories, resulting in 63 possible race combinations. The six basic race categories are White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaskan Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and "some other" race for persons who do not identify with one of the specified groups. ESRI forecasts race for all single and multiracial populations that are consistent with 2000 Census tabulations. Data are Census 2000 and ESRI's 2009 projections.
Rings
Rings define study areas around a center point, such as a store location, but the values in the rings are cumulative, overlap. For example, if you had 5-, 10-, and 15-mile rings around a location with 10 households in each, the total number of households in the 5-mile ring would be 10, in the 10-mile ring it would be 20, and in the 15-mile ring it would be 30.
Segmentation
Segmentation explains customer diversity, simplifies marketing campaigns, describes lifestyle and lifestage, and incorporates a wide variety of data.
Site prospecting
Run reports on a site to evaluate its potential.
Shapefile
A vector data (points, lines, or polygons) storage format for storing the location, shape, and attributes of geographic features. A shapefile is stored in a set of related files and contains one feature class.
Shopping Center data
Directory of Major Malls tracks information on over 4,000 major shopping centers and malls across the United States. The file used in Business Analyst includes all shopping centers with a gross leasable area (GLA) of approximately 225,000+ square feet. Lifestyle/specialty centers of any size are also included in this file as this classification of centers has recently become a primary focus in shopping center development. In addition, the data in Business Analyst contains the data for up to four Anchor stores.
State
States are identified by a two-digit FIPS code. The District of Columbia is included as a state-equivalent area in the ESRI database. See FIPS Code.
Street data
Nationwide detailed street maps with supporting basemap data. See the Data table for update frequency.
Study area
A study area can be defined by rings, donuts, drive-time polygons, or hand drawn shapes. You can also use standard geographical units such as the entire United States, a single state, a congressional district, county, county subdivision, place, ZIP Code, or census tract. You can use any combination of these study areas to provide a side-by-side comparison of a specific site to the region in which it is located.
Tapestry segmentation data
The ESRI's Tapestry Segmentation system provides an accurate, detailed description of America's neighborhoods. U.S. residential areas are divided into 65 segments based on demographic variables such as age, income, home value, occupation, household type, education, and other consumer behavior characteristics.
Thematic map
Also called a color-coded map, it displays study areas according to specific values. For example, it could be a map showing census tracts in different colors according to median household income. Light green would represent lower income; medium green would represent a higher income level; and dark green would represent the highest level. A map of drive times is another example of this kind of map.
ZIP Code
A five-digit system that identifies the individual post office or area delivery station associated with an address. ZIP Codes do not represent standard census geographic areas for data reporting. Data estimated for ZIP Codes are subject to change.