US Census Bureau API - Demographics & Population Data

API Integration

This actor connects to an external API service. You'll need valid API credentials from the service provider.

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API Integration

This actor connects to an external API service. You'll need valid API credentials from the service provider.

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Access US Census Bureau data including ACS demographics, population estimates, economic indicators, business statistics, and geographic data. Get population by age, race, income, education, housing, and more for any US location down to ZIP code level.

Features

• Population Data: Total population, age distribution, sex ratio, growth trends
• Demographics: Race, ethnicity, ancestry, language, citizenship
• Income & Poverty: Household income, per capita income, poverty rates, SNAP benefits
• Housing: Home values, rent, occupancy, units, year built, heating fuel
• Education: Educational attainment, school enrollment, field of degree
• Employment: Labor force, occupation, industry, commute times
• Business Statistics: Establishments, employees, payroll by industry
• Health Insurance: Coverage rates, types, uninsured population
• Demo Mode: Test with realistic sample data (no API key required)

Quick Start

{
  "dataSet": "unemployment",
  "year": 2024
}

Demo Mode (Enabled by Default)

This actor uses a free public API and defaults to demoMode: true.

Since this actor wraps a free, publicly available API, demo mode is enabled by default. This allows you to:

• Test the actor without any configuration
• See real sample data from the actual API
• Verify the output format before integrating

To get customized results, simply provide your own input parameters.

Input Parameters

Task Selection

• task: Operation to perform
  • get_population - Total population and age/sex breakdown
  • get_demographics - Race, ethnicity, ancestry data
  • get_income - Household and per capita income
  • get_housing - Housing units, values, rent, occupancy
  • get_education - Educational attainment levels
  • get_employment - Labor force and occupation data
  • get_business_stats - Business establishments and employees
  • get_poverty - Poverty rates and public assistance
  • get_health_insurance - Insurance coverage rates
  • get_commuting - Commute times and transportation modes
  • get_migration - Geographic mobility data
  • compare_locations - Compare multiple areas
  • get_zip_profile - Complete ZIP code profile
  • get_county_profile - Complete county profile
  • get_state_profile - Complete state profile
  • custom_query - Custom variable query

Authentication

• apiKey: Census API key (free at census.gov/developers)
• demoMode: Run with sample data (no key required)

Dataset Selection

• dataset: Data source
  • acs5 - ACS 5-Year (most geographies, smoothed estimates)
  • acs1 - ACS 1-Year (larger areas only, most current)
  • pep - Population Estimates Program
  • dec - Decennial Census
  • cbp - County Business Patterns
  • abs - Annual Business Survey

Geography

• state: 2-digit state FIPS code
• county: 3-digit county FIPS code
• place: City/town FIPS code
• zipCode: 5-digit ZIP code (ZCTA)
• tract: Census tract code
• stateName: State name (alternative to FIPS)

Custom Queries

• variables: Comma-separated variable codes
• tableGroup: Census table group code

Output Format

{
  "data": [...]
}

Pricing

This actor uses pay-per-event billing: Pay only for what you use:

• Population Query: $0.01 per query
• Demographics Query: $0.01 per query
• Income/Housing Query: $0.01 per query
• Location Profile: $0.02 per profile
• Custom Query: $0.01 per query
• Location Comparison: $0.02 per comparison

Use Cases

Market Research

• Analyze target demographics for product launches
• Site selection for retail and commercial development
• Competitive market analysis by geography

Real Estate

• Neighborhood demographic profiles
• Income and housing value trends
• Population growth projections

Business Planning

• Workforce availability analysis
• Customer demographic profiling
• Market sizing and TAM calculation

Academic Research

• Demographic trend analysis
• Socioeconomic studies
• Public policy research

Government & Nonprofit

• Grant application data
• Community needs assessment
• Service area planning

API Reference

See official API documentation for details.

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Common Problems & Solutions

"Invalid API key" error

Cause: Your API key is wrong, expired, or doesn't have the right permissions. Fix: Double-check your API key. Make sure you copied it exactly without extra spaces.

"Rate limit exceeded" error

Cause: You've hit the API's rate limits. Fix: Wait a few minutes, then try again. Consider reducing the number of concurrent requests.

Empty or incomplete results

Cause: The target may have anti-scraping protection or the data doesn't exist. Fix:

• Check if the URL/search query is correct
• Try with different parameters
• Some sites may block automated access

Demo data showing instead of real results

Cause: demoMode is still set to true. Fix: Set demoMode: false and provide your API key(s).

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Built by John Rippy | Actor Arsenal