The Urban Institute Urban Institute National Data Repository Randy Rosso October 21, 2010.

The Urban Institute

Urban Institute National Data Repository

Randy Rosso

October 21, 2010

The Urban Institute

History

• 2003 – 2008: Content provider for DataPlace (website with mapping/charting for the U.S.)

• 2009 – present: Standardized procedures with support from Casey, Macarthur, Rockefeller; providing files to NNIP partners

• Now: Fundraising to provide datasets & user guides to the public

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What We Are Offering

• Aggregate and point data (not microdata)

• Many administrative files, some survey

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Why Use Our Files – User-Friendly

• Standardized field names and file structure over time

• Descriptive field names

• Useful indicators with metadata and documentation

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Why Use Our Files – Geography

• Standardized geographic definitions over time

• Data already summarized at many geographic levels

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Why Use Our Files – Wide Range of Topic Areas

• Housing (e.g. HMDA)

• Economy (e.g. Census/BLS data on poverty, employment, unemployment, wages)

• Education (NCES schools data)

• Population/Demographics (Census/ACS)

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Why Use Our Files – Pre-processed

• Raw data difficult to manage:– Gigantic files– No “indicators” created (Poverty rate, Median loan

amount, Pct. African American students)– HMDA:

• Thousands of possible indicators to create

– ACS• A nightmare to download and manipulate

• Table/cell references are cumbersome

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14470 4 1 2 3 1 40 3 3 1018014470 4 1 1 3 1 77 3 3 1018014470 4 1 1 3 1 67 3 3 1018014470 4 1 2 3 1 60 3 3 1018014598 1 1 1 1 1 67 3 3 1018014598 1 1 1 1 1 67 3 3 1018014761 1 1 1 2 1 22 3 3 1018015115 4 1 1 1 1 56 3 6 1018015480 3 1 1 1 1 65 3 3 1018015480 3 1 1 1 1 85 3 4 1018016701 3 1 1 1 1 44 1 1 1018016701 3 1 1 2 1 15 3 1 1018016701 3 1 1 2 1 20 3 1 10180

Lender IDLoan purpose

(purchase, refinancing)Loan result (originated,

denied)

Raw HMDA Data

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Raw ACS Data

8,058 files to read-in for basic U.S. geographies

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Sample NCES Metadata...

ID ColumnName Label Definition1 NumSchools Number of open public schools This indicator includes schools with an operational

status of open or temporarily open.2 NumStudents Number of public school students

3 NumStudentswTeacherInfo Number of public school students with teacher information

4 StusPerSchool Average public school enrollment5 PrimaryStusPerSchool Average public primary school enrollment

Primary schools included schools with a low grade of pre-kindergarten through third grade and a high grade of pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.

6 MiddleStusPerSchool Average public middle school enrollment

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What data are available?

• HMDA 2006-2008

• Zip/County Business Patterns 2006-2007

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Where can I find the data?

• Go to www.metrotrends.org/natdata

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What is coming soon?

• HMDA 1998-2005, 2009

• ZBP 1998-2005, 2008

• IRS 2006-2007

• ACS 2006-2009

• NCES 1998/99-2008/09

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In the Future

• Section 8 Multifamily Housing

• Low-Income Housing Tax Credit

• Building Permits

• FDIC-Insured Institutions

• More…

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Get NatData News!

• Metrotrends-L Listserv– Sign-up on www.metrotrends.org – New data files, other content