News

getcensus now defaults to year(2022) to retrieve data for 2022
Requests for not-yet-released data now throw the same generic error message as requests for other unavailable data. Support for newly released ACS data will no longer require updating getcensus.

Restored support for retrieving multiple years of 5-year estimates for geography(metro) if 2021 is one of the requested years (#66).
getcensus will now throw an error if a user specifies anything other than two-digit code(s) to statefips() or anything other than three-digit code(s) to countyfips() (#60).

Fixed an issue where getcensus could not retrieve 2021 5-year estimates for metropolitan/micropolitan statistical areas (#61). However, retrieving multiple years of 5-year estimates for geography(metro) if 2021 is one of the requested years is not supported at this time. For example, getcensus B19013, years(2012 2021) sample(5) geography(metro) will throw an error. This will be fixed in a future release.
getcensus now throws an informative error if statefips() is specified with geography(zcta) for data years/samples where the Census Bureau API does not support retrieving data for zip code tabulation areas within specific states (#63).
Supplying an API key is now optional (#62).
If an unsupported year is requested, users are prompted to try updating getcensus in addition to checking the ACS data release schedule (#64).

getcensus now defaults to year(2021) to retrieve data for 2021
getcensus now allows 3-year estimates for all years available on the API: 2007 to 2013

Geographic identifier variables are now returned in an appropriate str format (#57)
getcensus now throws an informative error message when the API key is invalid (#56)

Support for 12 geographic areas:
- alaska native regional corporation
- american indian area/alaska native area/hawaiian home land
- combined statistical area
- state legislative district (lower chamber)
- state legislative district (upper chamber)
- new england city and town area
- combined new england city and town area
- urban area, school district (elementary)
- school district (secondary)
- public use microdata area
- zip code tabulation area
Users may specify the full name or an abbreviation to geography().
Additional metadata: The name of each variable’s table is saved as a variable note. Different tables have different universes which are described in the table name rather than the variable names, and it is important for users to be aware of the universe for a given estimate, especially as users may be retrieving variables from multiple tables. The table name note may not appear for all years and product types, as occasionally this field is missing from the API data dictionaries.
Dialog box: When getcensus is called without arguments, a dialog box opens. The dialog box provides access to all getcensus functionality. This replaces the limited getcensus “interactive mode”, which operated through the Results window. Alternatively, users may call the getcensus dialog box by typing db getcensus.

In geography(), “bg” replaces “block” to refer to the “block group” geography. “Block” is a distinct census geography for which ACS estimates are not available.
In geography(), “unsd” replaces “sch” to refer to the “unified school district” geography. With the addition of elementary and secondary school district as supported geographies (see above), “sch” is too ambiguous.
The nolabel option’s abbreviation is now nolab, which is consistent with Stata’s built-in programs.
Keywords:
- pop has been removed.
- pov and povrate have been combined into pov.
- snap now includes variables on the percent of SNAP-participating households with a person aged 60 or older. The variable ID for median income among SNAP-participating households has been corrected.
- medicaid now includes the percent, as well as the number, of individuals covered by Medicaid or other means-tested coverage (overall and by age group).

sample() replaces dataset(), as it is more consistent with ACS terminology. Also, in the future getcensus may support other Census datasets, such as the decennial census and population estimates, so we’d like to preserve the dataset() option for future development. For now, the dataset() option is retained for compatibility; if specified, its contents are copied into sample().
getcensus now more thoroughly checks the availability and validity of users’ requests before sending them to the API. This means users can expect more (informative) error messages from getcensus, and fewer failed API calls.
getcensus now prints API call URLs to the Results pane without “>” preceding each line break, for easier copy-pasting into a web browser.
When one or more variable labels have been truncated, a single message is displayed rather than a message for each truncated label.
In the help file and error messages, data points are now referred to as “variables” rather than estimates. This is consistent with the Census Bureau’s API documentation and user guide. It also avoids confusion (“1-year estimates”, “estimate” versus “margin of error”).
A rewritten help file provides more information on supported geographies and geographic components, includes more links to Census Bureau resources, and is more clearly organized.

getcensus version 2.0.0 is a full refactor of the program. Contributors should review dev/README.md.

Main program

Add explicit support for data years 2005-2009
Improved and stricter handling of errors when user passes unsupported year-dataset or year-product combinations
Some cleanup related to deprecation of product option

Main program

Add geographic component (e.g. metro/non-metro) option (#11)
Label margin of error variables (#12)
Clarify handling of mixed-up geoid and statefips options (#18)
New keywords to easily retrieve poverty ratio tables (#21)
Label variables using data dictionary for most recent data year requested by user (#24)

Help file

Main program

Fix issue #13
When saveas option used, new message tells users the path to the saved files. (#15)

Documentation

Main program

Help file