Tutorial 3: Multi-Year Comparisons¶

cendat makes it easy to compare data across multiple years.

Goal: Find Colorado incorporated places with very low poverty rates across recent years.

Setup¶

In [ ]:

import os
from cendat import CenDatHelper
from dotenv import load_dotenv

load_dotenv()
cdh = CenDatHelper(key=os.getenv("CENSUS_API_KEY"))

# Request multiple years at once
cdh.list_products(years=[2020, 2021, 2022, 2023], patterns=r"acs/acs5\)")
cdh.set_products()

import os from cendat import CenDatHelper from dotenv import load_dotenv load_dotenv() cdh = CenDatHelper(key=os.getenv("CENSUS_API_KEY")) # Request multiple years at once cdh.list_products(years=[2020, 2021, 2022, 2023], patterns=r"acs/acs5\)") cdh.set_products()

Step 2: Select Data¶

In [ ]:

cdh.set_groups(["B17001"])
cdh.set_geos(["160"])  # Places

cdh.set_groups(["B17001"]) cdh.set_geos(["160"]) # Places

Step 3: Get Data¶

In [ ]:

# Filter to Colorado (state = 08)
response = cdh.get_data(
    include_names=True,
    within={"state": "08"}
)

# Filter to Colorado (state = 08) response = cdh.get_data( include_names=True, within={"state": "08"} )

Step 4: Complex Filtering with Tabulate¶

The where parameter supports multiple conditions:

In [ ]:

response.tabulate(
    "NAME",
    "B17001_002E",  # Below poverty
    "B17001_001E",  # Total
    where=[
        "B17001_001E > 1_000",                    # Population > 1,000
        "B17001_002E / B17001_001E < 0.01",       # Poverty rate < 1%
        "'CDP' not in NAME",                      # Exclude CDPs
    ],
    weight_var="B17001_001E",
    strat_by="vintage"  # Separate results by year
)

response.tabulate( "NAME", "B17001_002E", # Below poverty "B17001_001E", # Total where=[ "B17001_001E > 1_000", # Population > 1,000 "B17001_002E / B17001_001E < 0.01", # Poverty rate < 1% "'CDP' not in NAME", # Exclude CDPs ], weight_var="B17001_001E", strat_by="vintage" # Separate results by year )

Tip - Condition Syntax

The where parameter supports:

• Simple comparisons: "AGEP > 17"
• Division expressions: "B17001_002E / B17001_001E < 0.01"
• String containment: "'CDP' not in NAME"