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DEFINITION
The American Community Survey (ACS) is an annual survey administered by the U.S. Census Bureau that provides data on a variety of different demographic characteristics at the national and local level. More information on the ACS can be found here.
DEFINITION
Households that spend more than 30% of their income on housing are often defined as being cost-burdened, and experiencing a ‘housing cost burden’ can negatively impact the financial stability of a household.
SOURCE
The Pew Charitable Trusts. (2018, April 19). American families face a growing rent burden. https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/reports/2018/04/american-families-face-a-growing-rent-burden
DEFINITION
The Cambridge Dictionary defines disparity as “a lack of equality or similarity, especially in a way that is not fair”
SOURCE
Cambridge Dictionary. (2020). Disparity. In Cambridge Dictionary. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/disparity
DEFINITION
This report uses the Internal Revenue Service’s definition of full-time employment for the Affordable Care Act, which is employees employed on average at least 30 hours per week.
SOURCE
Internal Revenue Service. (2020, September 19). Identifying full-time employees. https://www.irs.gov/affordable-care-act/employers/identifying-full-time-employees
DEFINITION
In the American Community Survey, the U.S. Census Bureau provides the following definition for householder: “One person in each household is designated as the householder. In most cases, this is the person, or one of the people, in whose name the home is owned, being bought, or rented and who is listed on line one of the survey questionnaire. If there is no such person in the household, any adult household member 15 years old and over could be designated as the householder.”
SOURCE
U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.) American Community Survey and Puerto Rico Community Survey: 2018 subject definitions. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/tech_docs/subject_definitions/2018_ACSSubjectDefinitions.pdf
DEFINITION
In the American Community Survey, the Census Bureau provides the following definition for household:
“A household includes all the people who occupy a housing unit. (People not living in households are classified as living in group quarters.) A housing unit is a house, an apartment, a mobile home, a group of rooms, or a single room that is occupied (or if vacant is intended for occupancy) as separate living quarters. Separate living quarters are those in which the occupants live separately from any other people in the building and which have direct access from the outside of the building or through a common hall. The occupants may be a single family, one person living alone, two or more families living together, or any group of related or unrelated people who share living arrangements.”
SOURCE
U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.) American Community Survey and Puerto Rico Community Survey: 2018 subject definitions. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/tech_docs/subject_definitions/2018_ACSSubjectDefinitions.pdf
DEFINITION
In the American Community Survey, the U.S. Census Bureau provides the following definition of family households: “A family consists of a householder and one or more other people living in the same household who are related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption… A family household may contain people not related to the householder.”
SOURCE
U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.) American Community Survey and Puerto Rico Community Survey: 2018 subject definitions. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/tech_docs/subject_definitions/2018_ACSSubjectDefinitions.pdf
DEFINITION
In the American Community Survey, households are identified by the “sex of the householder and the presence of relatives”. The U.S. Census Bureau defines a non-family householder as, “a householder living alone or with non-relatives only.” Relatives are defined as “individuals related to [the householder] by birth, marriage, or adoption” and can include roomers or boarders, housemates or roommates, unmarried partners, foster children, and other nonrelatives.
SOURCE
U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.) American Community Survey and Puerto Rico Community Survey: 2018 subject definitions. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/tech_docs/subject_definitions/2018_ACSSubjectDefinitions.pdf
DEFINITION
In the American Community Survey, the U.S. Census Bureau defines Male and Female householders with no spouse present as family households in which no spouses are present. Spouses include people in formal marriages and common-law marriages (and beginning in 2013 include same-sex married couples). Spouses are considered “present” if they are reported as members of the same household, even if they are temporarily separated. Married people with absent (i.e. not present) spouses are “married people whose wife or husband was not reported as a member of the same household or reported that they were married and living in a group quarters facility.” This includes spouses who are separated but not yet legally divorced and spouses who are “employed and living away from home or in an institution or serving away from home in the Armed Forces.”
SOURCE
U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.) American Community Survey and Puerto Rico Community Survey: 2018 subject definitions. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/tech_docs/subject_definitions/2018_ACSSubjectDefinitions.pdf
DEFINITION
In the American Community Survey, the U.S. Census Bureau classifies married-couple households as a type of family household in which the householder and his or her spouse are listed as members of the same household. Spouses include people in formal marriages and common-law marriages (and beginning in 2013 include same-sex married couples).
SOURCE
U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.) American Community Survey and Puerto Rico Community Survey: 2018 subject definitions. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/tech_docs/subject_definitions/2018_ACSSubjectDefinitions.pdf
DEFINITION
This report uses a measure of income insufficiency developed by Forsyth Futures defined as “a measure of financial hardship that compares family income to estimated family expenses.” This measure was developed to supplement analysis of financial hardships based on poverty rates and accounts for factors not included in poverty rate calculations, such as childcare and healthcare expenses.
SOURCE
Forsyth Futures. (n.d.) Income insufficiency. https://www.forsythfutures.org/indicator_income-insufficiency/
DEFINITION
In the American Community Survey, the U.S. Census Bureau defines residents participating in the labor force as residents, 16 years of age and older, who are employed or unemployed. To be considered unemployed residents must be actively looking for work and available to start a job during the four weeks before they completed the survey. Residents described as not being in the labor force are “all people 16 years of age and over who are not classified as members of the labor force. This category consists mainly of students, homemakers, retired workers, seasonal workers interviewed in an off season who were not looking for work, institutionalized people, and people doing only incidental unpaid family work (less than 15 hours during the reference week).”
SOURCE
U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.) American Community Survey and Puerto Rico Community Survey: 2018 subject definitions. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/tech_docs/subject_definitions/2018_ACSSubjectDefinitions.pdf
DEFINITION
The margin of error is the amount that the actual value may vary from the estimate. This report uses a 95% confidence interval, which means that researchers are 95% sure that the actual number described in the estimate is within the margin of error. Estimates with overlapping margins of error may not be statistically different in reality.
SOURCE
U.S. Census Bureau. (2018, April). Using American Community Survey (ACS) estimates and margins of error. [PDF slides]. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/guidance/training-presentations/acs-moe.html
DEFINITION
People described as married in this report are people who are described in the American Community Survey as “now married, except separated.” The U.S. Census Bureau defines this as “includes people whose current marriage has not ended through widowhood or divorce (regardless of previous marital history), and who are not currently separated. The category may also include couples who live together or people in common-law marriages if they consider this category the most appropriate.” Beginning in 2013, same-sex married couples were described as being married.
SOURCE
U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.) American Community Survey and Puerto Rico Community Survey: 2018 subject definitions. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/tech_docs/subject_definitions/2018_ACSSubjectDefinitions.pdf
DEFINITION
The median value describes the level of income that half a group is above and the other half is below. For example, from 2019 to 2018, the median income for adult females working full time was $34,148. This means that half of adult females in Forsyth County earned less than $34,148 and half earned more.
SOURCE
U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.) American Community Survey and Puerto Rico Community Survey: 2018 subject definitions. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/tech_docs/subject_definitions/2018_ACSSubjectDefinitions.pdf
DEFINITION
According to the Census Bureau, “to be ‘statistically different’, there must be statistical evidence that there is a difference between two estimates.” This report discusses the results of tests for statistical difference in the “Data Notes” tabs of visualizations and notes when apparent differences are not statistically different or when margins of error overlap.
SOURCE
U.S. Census Bureau. (2018, April). Using American Community Survey (ACS) estimates and margins of error. [PDF slides]. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/guidance/training-presentations/acs-moe.html