ABSTRACT
Community analysis can be defined broadly to mean the collection, examination, and display of data to create an information base for a given jurisdiction or area of study. This chapter focuses on the demographic and economic elements of community analysis, both of which are strongly data-based and sourced through many of the same websites. There are many other demographic characteristics that have potentially significant implications. The U. S. Census Bureau's American Fact Finder (AFF) is perhaps the most useful to planners for the collection of demographic data. Since the use of AFF is a bit tricky and takes some getting used to, the "Guided Search" feature can be very helpful in learning and reviewing the basics of data retrieval. Sometimes, a planner may need to define the geographic area in a special way by aggregating data for the census tract, census block group, or census block units of geography into a special "user-defined" geographic area.
