CSI Library: Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP): New York City Data

Boroughs vs. Counties

Larger than neighborhoods, boroughs and counties are the same areas with different names. Borough names are used by city agencies and the media while county names are used by state and federal agencies:

The Bronx is Bronx County (ANSI / FIPS 36005)
Brooklyn is Kings County (ANSI / FIPS 36047)
Manhattan is New York County (ANSI / FIPS 36061)
Queens is Queens County (ANSI / FIPS 36081)
Staten Island is Richmond County (ANSI / FIPS 36085)

NYC Data

These pages will help you locate data for New York City's boroughs and neighborhoods. The data may be organized in profiles (several pieces of data fore one place) or comparative tables (one piece of data for many places). When looking for data, you will often have to balance geographic availability with currency and data format. The sources in this guide are publicly available; the US Census Bureau and various City and State agencies are the main sources. However publicly available information from non-profits and scholarly centers is also included.

NYC Open Data
The city's central data repository that includes datasets from several city agencies. A good place to start searching.

Neighborhoods?

Neighborhoods are informally defined areas within a borough. Different sources will use different definitions to geographically define neighborhoods:

PUMAs
Public Use Microdata Areas: statistical areas defined by the US Census Bureau; they resemble neighborhoods.
Census Tracts
Small statistical areas created by the Census Bureau that are smaller than neighborhoods.
NTAs
Neighborhood Tabulation Areas; created by the NYC Dept of Planning by aggregating census tracts into 195 neighborhood-like areas.
ZIP Codes
Created by the US Postal Service to deliver mail. Marketing data is often available by ZIP code as is decennial census data.
Community Districts
59 large neighborhood-like areas as defined by the NYC Planning Department.
Health Districts
Neighborhood-like areas as defined by the NYC Dept of Health

The New York City Data section of this guide was written and created by Frank Donnelly, librarian at Baruch College. The CSI library thanks him for allowing the LibGuides community to reuse his content. His original guide may be found at http://guides.newman.baruch.cuny.edu/nyc_data.