2010 Census Data for Oakland and Alameda County will be public today

By Susan Mernit

How much did Oakland and Alameda's population shift over the past 10 years? This week, we're about to (finally) find out. Yesterday, the Census Bureau shipped local 2010 Census data to the governor and leadership of the state legislature in California. Today, at 12:30 p.m. PST, the full set of data for every county in California will be available via FTP download at http://www2.census.gov/census_2010/01-Redistricting_File--PL_94-171/. By Wednesday afternoon, the data will be posted on the Census Bureau's new American FactFinder site http://factfinder2.census.gov

The data will include summaries for Alameda County and all other Cali counties of population totals, as well as data on race, Hispanic origin and voting age for multiple geographies within the state, such as census blocks, tracts, voting districts, cities, counties and school districts.

Urban Habitat's Connie Galambos Malloy is currently one of the local folks involved in a state-wide redistricting effort, We Draw the Lines, that will work to redefine the boundaries of our legislative and other political districts to reflect the new population data. After hearing from the public and drawing the maps for the 40 Senate districts, 80 Assembly districts, and four Board of Equalization districts, the Commission--which Connie and others are part of-- votes on the new maps to be used for the next decade.

what does this mean for Oakland? We'll find ut soon if our population has shifted further (see OL's story on the Urban Strategies/Blacks in Philanthropy report of population shift for an analysis of other data sources) and what lines, if any, need to be redrawn.

For more information on the Census Bureau's Redistricting Data Program, visit http://www.census.gov/rdo and http://2010.census.gov/news/press-kits/redistricting.html. The Census Bureau released state population figures in December 2010 that showed the population of California grew 10 percent during the last decade, from 33.9 million residents in 2000 to 37.3 million in 2010.

Visit http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/ for an interactive map showcasing county-level population change from 1960 to 2010, as well as state-level data on race and Hispanic or Latino origin for 2010.

Track census coverage at OL: http://oaklandlocal.com/tags/census