Finding Human Dimensions Information About Conservation in Missouri with American Factfinder

Human dimensions information about conservation, or even demographic information of any kind, used to be easy to find but was often difficult to obtain. There were relatively few books or sources and they were difficult to locate in a nearby library or expensive to purchase.

Now, it seems that because so much information is available online, specific information is harder to find, but easier to obtain. There are so many online sources for demographic information that narrowing a search to find what is needed can be difficult. Once the information is identified, it is often incredibly easier to obtain, usually requiring only a mouse click to download the file or to design custom analysis.

The most important source of information about people in Missouri or the United States, and the first place to look, is the U.S. Census Bureau and their American Factfinder Web pages available here.

For example, type in "Missouri" in the state entry box for "Get a fact sheet for your community..." and press "GO" which will yield a list of population characteristics with all sorts of variables of interest. Down the page is a listing of housing units and characteristics, as available here. If you are interested, the estimate for total housing units in Missouri for 2005 was 2,592,809.

Try entering your own community and look at the characteristics available.

Or you can view a narrative with graphs about the how the population of Missouri is distributed as available here. In the text it is stated that in 2005 there were 2.3 million households in Missouri. The average household size was 2.5 people.

You can use the American Factfinder to obtain very focused and specific information. Overall, I think it's relatively easy to use and the availability of information is incredible. Obtaining the information is very easy. And don't be overwhelmed at the amount of information. Finding what you want is usually a matter of persistence and logical searching.

Finding and obtaining information at the American Factfinder is probably easier than my new puppy's experience at selecting a plastic egg out of a basket. He was just not sure which egg to chew on first.