US Census Bureau Data

The US Census Bureau is just one source that KMPO uses to acquire data for regional planning and analysis. The primary Census product that KMPO utilizes is the decennial census data. This data is the foundation for KMPO’s population estimates for Kootenai County. KMPO uses the population and dwelling unit occupancy data, at the census block level, to determine how many people reside in Kootenai County and where. Block-level data is used to get the closest estimation to where households are located and is only available during decennial census years. Data from the census is also used in KMPO’s population and housing forecasts.

The population and housing data from the decennial census are also used in KMPO’s regional travel demand model (TDM) to estimate the number and types of people and households living and making trips throughout Kootenai County. The block-level data is grouped into the TDM’s traffic analysis zones (TAZs). These zones are where travel trips originate and/or end. The TDM calculates the number of household trips per TAZ by trip type (work, school, shopping, etc.), based on the number of households located in the zone, and then distributes and assigns them to the transportation network in the model. This allows KMPO to determine what routes are most likely to be taken and facilities used by people living in Kootenai County. This process is replicated for other land use types based on the number of employees or an entity’s size.

KMPO may also utilize data from other Census Bureau products, such as the American Community Survey (ACS), to compare with other data sources to determine credibility or when other sources are not available.