Definitions

Geographic Areas

City - A type of incorporated place in all states and the District of Columbia. In agreement with the state of Hawaii, the U.S. Census Bureau does not recognize the city of Honolulu for presentation of census data. In Virginia, all cities are not part of any county, and so the Census Bureau treats them as equivalent to a county for data presentation purposes, as well as treating them as places; there also is one such independent city in each of three states: Maryland, Missouri, and Nevada. In 23 states and the District of Columbia, some or all cities are not part of any minor civil division, in which case the Census Bureau treats them as county subdivisions as well as places for data presentation purposes.

CBSAs - The U.S. Census Bureau term for a functional region based around an urban center of at least 10,000 people, based on standards published by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in 2000. These standards are used to replace the definitions of metropolitan areas that were defined in 1990. The term "CBSA" refers to both metropolitan statistical areas and newly-created micropolitan areas collectively. Micro areas are based around Census Bureau-defined urban cluster of at least 10,000 and less than 50,000 people.

County - The primary legal division of every state except Alaska and Louisiana. A number of geographic entities are not legally designated as a county, but are recognized by the U.S. Census Bureau as equivalent to a county for data presentation purposes. These include the boroughs, city and boroughs, municipality, and census areas in Alaska; parishes in Louisiana; and cities that are independent of any county in Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, and Virginia. They also include the municipios in Puerto Rico, districts and islands in American Samoa, municipalities in the Northern Mariana Islands, and islands in the Virgin Islands of the United States. Because they contain no primary legal divisions, the Census Bureau treats the District of Columbia and Guam each as equivalent to a county for data presentation purposes.

State - A primary governmental division of the United States. The U.S. Census Bureau treats the District of Columbia as the equivalent of a state for data presentation purposes. It also treats a number of entities that are not legal divisions of the United States as the equivalent of states for data presentation purposes: Puerto Rico and the Island Areas.

United States (US) - The 50 states and the District of Columbia.

ZIP Code Area - The addresses served by a 5-digit ZIP Code established by the U.S. Postal Service to expedite the delivery of mail. Most ZIP Codes do not have specific boundaries, and their implied boundaries do not necessarily follow clearly identifiable visible or invisible map features; also, the carrier routes for one ZIP Code may intertwine with those of one or more other ZIP Codes, and therefore this area is more conceptual than geographic.

Race & Ethnicity

American Indian and Alaska Native - A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America) and who maintain tribal affiliation or community attachment.

Asian - A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam. It includes "Asian Indian," "Chinese," "Filipino," "Korean," "Japanese," "Vietnamese," and "Other Asian.". This group includes Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander - A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands. It includes people who indicate their race as "Native Hawaiian," "Guamanian or Chamorro," "Samoan," and "Other Pacific Islander."

Black or African American - A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. It includes people who indicate their race as "Black, African American, or Negro," or provide written entries such as African American, Afro American, Kenyan, Nigerian, or Haitian.

Hispanic or Latino - People who identify with the terms "Spanish," "Hispanic," or "Latino" are those who classify themselves in one of the specific categories: "Mexican, Mexican American, Chicano," "Puerto Rican," or "Cuban" - as well as those who indicate that they are "other Spanish/Hispanic/Latino" like those whose origins are from Spain, the Spanish-speaking countries of Central or South America, the Dominican Republic or people identifying themselves generally as Spanish, Spanish-American, Hispanic, Hispano, Latino, etc. People who identify their origin as Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino may be of any race.

Other Race Alone - Individuals who identified themselves as belonging to a single race, but not one of the races identified by the Census (White, Black, Asian, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander). This definintion differs from the Census 2000 definition of Other Race, which included Two or More Races.

Two or more Races - Individuals who chose more than 1 of the race categories are referred to as the Two or More Races population. All respondents who indicated more than one race can be collapsed into the Two or More Races category. Thus, the race-alone categories and the Two or More Races category sum to the total population.

White - A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. It includes people who indicate their race as "White" or report entries such as Irish, German, Italian, Lebanese, Near Easterner, Arab, or Polish.

Statistic Variables

Area Quintiles - Refers to a group containing 20% of the value of the area as a whole. Five Area Quintiles (A, B, C, D, and E) are used to show relative values of a variable within a study area. The quintiles are represented by color-coded blocks on a map.

Centroid - The physical center of a selected geography.

EASI Rank - A ratio-type rank for a particular geography representing the concentration of the variable compared to the average concentration. Tie scores are reported as the average of all tied numbers in sequence (if scores 1, 2 and 3 were tied, they would all be reported as 2).

EASI Score - Another relative measure using the results of the EASI Rank to arrange the values of a variable into a quintile (20% per group) frequency distribution.

Intensity - A measure of how closely each area matches a perfect score for the chosen profile. The highest possible intensity score is 100, which would mean that the EASI Rank for every factor in the Profile is 1 for a given area. As more variables are added to the User Profile, the likelihood of this outcome diminishes. A high intensity score represents a high concentration of a variable within an area, but does not necessarily imply a high quantity.

Population Centroid - The center of population in a selected geography.

Profile - A combination of variables and their weights calculated for a specific geography. It represents a weighted concentration of the selected variables relative to population.

Significant Variables Report - A special report ranking all variables in the categories selected, according to their EASI Rank. The variables with the highest rank (where 1 is highest) are displayed first.

US Quintile - A group containing 20% of the value of a variable in a study area based on a comparison to the entire USA. Five US Quintiles (A, B, C, D, and E) are used to show the relative values. The quintiles are represented on a map by color-coded blocks.