ACS calculator
Comparing data to test for significance of the difference
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Use this test to determine if two values from the ACS are significantly different. You do this if you want to compare the same characteristic at two different periods in time or want to compare the same characteristic for two different geographic areas.
Fill the estimated values in the left two cells and the corresponding margins of error in the right hand cells. Click on the "Test" button to see the result. You can also copy and paste Estimate and MOE together in the left two cells, for example copying two cells directly out of American Factfinder (example on the right) or from Excel.
Significantly different in this calculation means that the probability that the true values are different is more than 90%.
Not significantly different means that the estimated difference is not large enough to conclude that there is a difference in the real values. In the calculations on this only results from 90% confidence level testing are presented. For other levels you have to calculate the difference and the margin of error yourself (you can do that below) and do the appropiate calculations.
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Computing a new value from two existing values
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Use this part of the calculator if you want to calculate a new value and corresponding Margin of Error based upon two existing ACS values.
Fill in the two existing values in the left two cells underneath, the corresponding Margins of Error in the right hand cells and
select the kind of operation you want to perform. You can also copy and paste Estimate and MOE together in the left two cells, for example copying two cells directly out of American Factfinder (example on the right) or from Excel. The calculated values will show up in the Result cells.
You can choose the following operations:
- Sum - if you want to add two values
- Difference - if you want to subtract one value from another
- Product - if you want to calculate the product of two values
- Proportion - if you want to know the relative size of a subgroup. It is important that "Value 1" represents a subgroup of "Value 2"
- Ratio - if you want to calculate the ratio between two groups where the two values represent non-overlapping groups
- Change - if you want to calculate the percentage change over time (change as a % of the first value)
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All formula's used on this page are based upon formula's described in: "A Compass for Understanding and Using American Community Survey Data; What General Data Users Need to Know", U.S. Census Bureau, 2008. This document also describes how to handle calculations beyond the scope of this calculator, such as testing with a different confidence level or adding three or more values.
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