The SFVERC ACS Data -- 2005
American Community Survey (ACS) data have been released for the newly designated San Fernando Valley Sub-County Census District (CCD). This special statistical district was created by request of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the Census Bureau, who conducted a special tabulation for the new Valley CCD along with its inaugural release of the 2005 ACS data for the nation, states, counties, places, and other census statistical areas.
The Census Bureau also piloted a special project in Los Angeles County which involved a special run of ACS data for the County’s Special Planning Areas (SPA) and designated subareas of these SPAs. A group representing several stakeholders and data providers (including the SFV Economic Research Center) developed these subareas to maximize the resulting data’s usefulness to planners and other interested parties.
The ACS is a rich source of information about our communities; it covers our residents’ general, social, economic, and housing characteristics. The data elements in these categories are reported in the tables listed in the left column. In the tables, we present all the characteristics of our Valley’s communities and the characteristics to those of LA City, LA County, California, and the nation.
The Valley’s boundaries for the Sub-County Census District are shown in the accompanying CCD Map while the ACS Valley Regions boundaries appear in the other map. Note that there are some minor differences in coverage resulting from the boundaries of LA County’s SPAs, which existed before the designation of the Valley CCD. On the east end, North Glendale was combined with La Crescenta and La Canada to form the North Glendale-La Canada region. La Crescenta and La Canada are not in the Valley CCD but are on the eastern edge of the local SPA (SPA 2) and had to be included in its subareas. Secondly, Calabasas is included in the CCD map but not in the ACS Valley Regions map. SPA 2 boundaries required that we combine Calabasas and Agoura Hills in the western part of the Valley even though Agoura Hills is not considered to be in the Valley. Unfortunately, the combined area of Calabasas-Agoura Hills fell just below the Census Bureau’s required population of at least 65,000 in household population in an area to report its ACS statistics. Consequently no data were reported for Calabasas-Agoura Hills. The ACS also required us to combine what we think of as separate Valley communities in order to meet the 65,000 household population rule, but we combined communities in light of their characteristics so that the larger areas were similar in important respects.
Finally, the reader should note that the ACS data presented in the tables counts only household population which does not include the numbers or the characteristics of anyone in group quarters, which include college dorms, nursing homes, detention facilities, and a host of other domiciles. Any comparison between the 2005 ACS data provided here or elsewhere and the Census 2000 data (which includes the population in group quarters) has to interpreted in light of that difference.