Essential Business Analyst Vocabulary—Data

Term	Description
Age	Age data is reported for five-year age groups and select summary groups such as 18 years and over. This data is ESRI's 2010 projections.
Average household size	Average household size is calculated by dividing the number of persons in households by the number of households.
Business data	The ESRI business data is extracted from a comprehensive list of businesses licensed from Infogroup. Infogroup collects information on approximately 12 million private and public U.S. companies. Individual businesses are located by address geocoding—not all will have an exact location. Businesses can be retrieved by their Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Code as well as by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code and location. The Infogroup Business File can be used for locating both competitors and marketing opportunities. This data is current as of January 2010.
Census block	A block is a component of a block group. Depending on the area, a block can be considered much like a city block. In rural areas, a block can extend to many square miles. In general, a block is comprised of approximately 38 residents. There are over 8 million blocks in the United States.
Census block group	A block group is a collection of blocks and a subdivision of a census tract. In general, a block group comprises approximately 1,400 residents. There are over 200,000 block groups in the United States.
Census tract	Tracts are small statistical subdivisions of a county. The boundaries are delineated by local committees to represent relatively homogeneous neighborhoods and to maintain stable boundaries. Census tracts generally have 1,500 to 8,000 residents.
Consumer spending data	ESRI has extracted demographic and economic data for households from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) 2006 and 2007 Consumer Expenditure (CEX) diary and interview surveys. Each year of data actually represents a series of independent, quarterly surveys that include approximately 7,500 households or consumer units. Data is combined from the 2006–2007 surveys to increase the sample size for analysis. Data represents total household expenditures in dollars.
Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSA)	Core Based Statistical Areas, which include metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas, comprise one or more counties and are defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Each metropolitan statistical area must have at least one urbanized area of 50,000 or more inhabitants. Each micropolitan statistical area must have at least one urban cluster of at least 10,000 but less than 50,000 population. Under the standards, the county (or counties) in which at least 50 percent of the population resides within urban areas of 10,000 or more population, or that contain at least 5,000 people residing within a single urban area of 10,000 or more population, is identified as a "central county" (counties). Additional "outlying counties" are included in the CBSA if they meet specified requirements of commuting to or from the central counties. Current definitions are from November 2009.
County	Counties are the primary legal subdivisions of a state and are identified by a two-digit state Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code and a three-digit county FIPS code. See FIPS code.
Demographic data	The 2010 data included current-year estimates and five-year projections for key demographic data. With the exception of the Tapestry segmentation data, which is only available at the block group level of geography in Business Analyst Premium, all data is available at census block group, census tract, county, state, U.S., CBSA, DMA, and ZIP Code levels of geography. The data update is as of July 1, 2010.
Designated Market Area (DMA)	A designated market area is a television market defined by Nielsen Media Research. DMAs are revised annually. Current definitions are from the 2009–2010 series.
Diversity Index	The Diversity Index summarizes racial and ethnic diversity. The index shows the likelihood that two persons, chosen at random from the same area, belong to different racial or ethnic groups. The index ranges from 0 (no diversity) to 100 (complete diversity). For example, the diversity score for the United States is 59, which means there is a 59 percent probability that two people randomly chosen from the U.S. population would belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
Families	Households in which one or more persons in the household are related to the householder (formerly, the head of the household) by birth, marriage or adoption. The census tabulates only one family per household. This data is from Census 2000 and ESRI's 2010 projections.
Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) code	Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) for numeric codes used to identify states and counties.
Hispanic origin	Defined by self-identification, Hispanic origin refers to ethnicity, not race. Persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race. This data is from Census 2000 and ESRI 's 2010 projections.
Home value	The estimate of value is presented for total owner-occupied units. This data is ESRI's 2010 projections
Home value base	This is the sum of the home value distribution.
Household	A household is an occupied housing unit. Household type is identified by the presence of relatives and the number of persons living in the household. Family households, with or without children, include married couples and other families—a male or female householder with no spouse present. Nonfamily households may be a group of unrelated persons or a single person living alone. This data is Census 2000 and ESRI's 2010 and 2015 projections.
Household income	See Income.
Household income base	This is the sum of the household income distribution.
Income	2010 Income is a forecast of income for the calendar year 2009. Income amounts are expressed in current dollars, including an adjustment for inflation or cost-of-living increases. This data is ESRI's 2010 and 2015 projections.
Index	An index is the ratio of a local percent (rate) to a U.S. percent (rate) or other base. For example:
Market potential data	The ESRI Market Potential database includes data for 2,200 items organized into 35 categories, representing goods, services, attitudes, and activities, collected by Mediamark Research Inc. (MRI) Doublebase 2008 database. Market potential data measures the likely demand for a product or service. The database is available in Business Analyst Premium.
Median	This is a value that divides a distribution into two equal parts. A median is a positional measure that is unaffected by extremely high or low values in a distribution that may affect an average.
Median age	Median age is calculated from the distribution of age by five-year groups. This data is ESRI's 2010 projections. See Median.
Median home value	This estimate divides the distribution of home values into two equal parts. Linear interpolation is used if the median home value falls below $1,000,000. If the median falls in the upper home value interval of $1,000,000+, it is represented by $1,000,001.
Median household income	This is the value that divides the distribution of household income into two equal parts. Pareto interpolation is used if the median falls in an income interval other than the first or last. For the lowest interval, <$10,000, linear interpolation is used. If the median falls in the upper income interval of $500,000+, it is represented by the value of $500,001.
Per capita income	This is the average income for all persons calculated from the aggregate income of persons 15 years and older.
Population	This is the total number of residents in an area. Residence refers to the "usual place" where a person lives, which is not necessarily the legal residence. For example, college students are counted where they attend school. This data is Census 2000 and ESRI's 2010 and 2015 projections.
Race	Defined by self-identification, race detail from Census 2000 was expanded to include categories, resulting in 63 possible race combinations. The six basic race categories are White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaskan Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and "some other" race for persons who do not identify with one of the specified groups. ESRI forecasts race for all single and multiracial populations that are consistent with 2000 Census tabulations. Data is Census 2000 and ESRI's 2010 projections.
Rate, annual percent	This is calculated as an annual compound rate of change from 2000 to 2010 for population, households, and families. For example:
Retail MarketPlace data	ESRI's Retail MarketPlace data measures retail activity by trade area and compares retail sales to consumer spending by NAICS industry classification. The proprietary Leakage/Surplus factor summarizes the relationship between retail sales by business (supply) and consumer spending by household (demand). The database is available in Business Analyst Premium.
Shopping center data	Directory of Major Malls tracks information on over 5,000 major shopping centers and malls across the United States. The file used in Business Analyst includes all shopping centers with a gross leasable area (GLA) of approximately 225,000+ square feet and is current as of June 2010. Lifestyle/Specialty centers of any size are also included in this file as this classification of centers has recently become a primary focus in shopping center development. In addition, the data in Business Analyst contains the data for up to four anchor stores.
State	States are identified by a two-digit FIPS code. The District of Columbia is included as a state-equivalent area in the ESRI database. See FIPS code.
Tapestry segmentation data	The Tapestry segmentation system provides an accurate, detailed description of America's neighborhoods. U.S. residential areas are divided into 65 segments based on demographic variables such as age, income, home value, occupation, household type, education, and other consumer behavior characteristics.
ZIP Code	Created by the U.S. Postal Service to deliver the mail, ZIP Codes do not represent standard census geographic areas for data reporting. Because the ZIP Code boundaries are not contiguous with census geographic areas or stable over time, data estimated for ZIP Codes is also subject to change. The ZIP Codes in this release of the software are current as of October 2009 (released by Tele Atlas in the December 2009 product release).