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I have a dataset (it's a bunch of count variables) at the Census 2010 census tract level, and I want to merge it to a bunch of other datasets that are at the Census 2000 tract level. Because it would be difficult/messy to change all the other datasets, I want to basically send this one dataset back in time and put it into Census 2000 tracts. I'm aware that this is going to be imperfect/require some assumptions about uniformity across tracts.

I've been looking through the crosswalk published as part of the LTDB (http://www.s4.brown.edu/us2010/Researcher/LTBDDload/DataList.aspx), which takes files from Census 2000 tracts to Census 2010 tracts. It seems like I should be able to use these weights to go in the opposite direction as well, right? But I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around it as I read through their code. Has anyone done this before?

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Missouri Census Data Center provides a (SAS-based) app that does this pretty smoothly.

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I've not done this myself, but the US Census does provide datasets and information for mapping census data between 2010 and 2000. They call these the geography relationship files. Below is a link to the datasets/information.

http://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/relationship.html

This is an excerpt from their website that I think would apply to your situation:

The 2010 Census Tract Relationship files are provided as a tool to help data users compare the universe of Census 2000 tracts to the universe of 2010 Census tracts. From these files, data users may determine how Census 2000 tracts relate to 2010 Census tracts and vice versa. The links below provide more information about the relationship files, including format and layouts, as well as a link to the files. Also see the Congressional District relationship files section above for the 113th Congressional Districts to Census Tract relationship files.
•Overview of the 2010 Census Tract Relationship Files
•Understanding the 2010 Census Tract Relationship Files [PDF]
•Download the 2010 Census Tract Relationship Files
•2010 Census Tract Relationship File Format and Record Layout
•Census 2000 Tract Relationship Files

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  • I've taken a look at the Census relationship files and agree they're a useful part of the picture. I was (probably too optimistically) hoping there was a way to avoiding doing the necessary weighting myself. – Ari Jan 3 '14 at 18:35

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