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Unemployment (ACS)

The share of each Georgia community's civilian labor force that is unemployed - American Community Survey 5-year averages down to the census-tract level.

Year coverage
20202024
Updated
annual
Version
1.0.0
Schema hash
610c57ed3696

Detail levels available

StateCounty · defaultDistrict

Overview

Unemployment from the American Community Survey 5-year estimates (detailed table B23025, Employment Status for the Population 16 Years and Over), for Georgia at state, county, school district, and census tract geography, vintages 2020-2024: the unemployed share of the civilian labor force, with the underlying counts and 90 percent margins of error.

Row grain: One row per year, county_fips, district_code, tract_geoid.

Key metric

unemployment_rateUnemployment Rate (proportion)

The single headline value most answers want.

Variables

Every column in the fact table. The code is the exact field name the API returns.

ColumnTypeUnitRangeNull?Description
yearYearintegernoACS 5-year vintage END year: 2024 covers the pooled 2020-2024 survey period. Consecutive vintages overlap.
Full description
ACS 5-year vintage END year: 2024 covers the pooled 2020-2024 survey period. Consecutive vintages overlap.
county_fipsCounty FIPSstringyes5-digit county FIPS code (state 13 + county). Populated only on county-level rows.
Full description
5-digit county FIPS code (state 13 + county). Populated only on county-level rows.

Joins counties; adds its label columns.

district_codeDistrict CodestringyesGCD school district code (FK to the education districts dimension). Populated only on district-level rows - Census unified-school-district estimates mapped onto the ~180 standard districts.
Full description
GCD school district code (FK to the education districts dimension). Populated only on district-level rows - Census unified-school-district estimates mapped onto the ~180 standard districts.

Joins districts; adds its label columns.

tract_geoidTract GEOIDstringyes11-digit census tract GEOID (2020 boundaries). Populated only on tract-level rows.
Full description
11-digit census tract GEOID (2020 boundaries). Populated only on tract-level rows.

Joins tracts; adds its label columns.

unemployment_rateUnemployment RatenumberproportionyesUnemployed share of the civilian labor force.
Full description
Unemployed residents as a share of the civilian labor force (0-1), derived as num_unemployed / num_civilian_labor_force. NULL when the geography has no civilian labor force. A 5-year survey average - not the official BLS LAUS series.
unemployment_rate_moeUnemployment Rate Moenumberproportionyes90 percent margin of error for unemployment_rate, derived from the published count margins with the Census ratio formula. Never the headline metric.
Full description
90 percent margin of error for unemployment_rate, derived from the published count margins with the Census ratio formula. Never the headline metric.
num_unemployedNumber UnemployedintegercountyesUnemployed civilians 16 and over (ACS estimate) - the rate's numerator.
Full description
Unemployed civilians 16 and over (ACS estimate) - the rate's numerator.
num_unemployed_moeNumber Unemployed Moeintegercountyes90 percent margin of error for num_unemployed, as published.
Full description
90 percent margin of error for num_unemployed, as published.
num_civilian_labor_forceNumber Civilian Labor ForceintegercountyesCivilian labor force 16 and over (ACS estimate) - the rate's denominator. Armed forces excluded.
Full description
Civilian labor force 16 and over (ACS estimate) - the rate's denominator. Armed forces excluded.
num_civilian_labor_force_moeNumber Civilian Labor Force Moeintegercountyes90 percent margin of error for num_civilian_labor_force, as published.
Full description
90 percent margin of error for num_civilian_labor_force, as published.

Filters

Query parameters the fact endpoint accepts. Comma-separated values are OR within a parameter; multiple parameters AND together.

ParameterKindAllowed valuesNotes
yearyear_exactany value
year_minyear_rangeany value
year_maxyear_rangeany value
detaildetailcountiesdistrictsstatestractsenum-enforced, default: counties
district_codeforeign_keyany valuemulti-value
county_fipsforeign_keyany valuemulti-value
tract_geoidforeign_keyany valuemulti-value
district_typedimension_attribute
7 allowed values
  • commission_charter
  • resa
  • standard
  • state_agency
  • state_charter
  • state_school
  • state_special
multi-value, enum-enforced

Example requests

Run these against the base URL — they return live data.

All rows (first page), counties level

curl "https://georgiacivicdata.org/api/v1/census/employment"

counties data for 2024

curl "https://georgiacivicdata.org/api/v1/census/employment?year=2024"

One district (code 660), 2024

curl "https://georgiacivicdata.org/api/v1/census/employment?district_code=660&year=2024&detail=districts"

One county (FIPS 13121), 2024

curl "https://georgiacivicdata.org/api/v1/census/employment?county_fips=13121&year=2024&detail=counties"

Download 2024 as CSV

curl "https://georgiacivicdata.org/api/v1/census/employment?year=2024&format=csv"

Notes & limitations

NULL handling

  • Suppressed cells (too few students to report) are NULL, never zero.
  • Zero is a real, reported value.

Limitations

Universe: population 16 years and over; the denominator is the CIVILIAN labor force (armed forces excluded). ACS unemployment is a 5-year survey average - related to but NOT the official BLS LAUS county unemployment series, and the 2020-2024 vintages pool the COVID years. unemployment_rate_moe is derived from the published count MOEs with the Census ratio formula; a degenerate small-sample margin above 1.0 is set to NULL. ACS 5-year period estimates: the year column is the vintage END year and each estimate pools five years of survey responses (2024 = 2020-2024). Consecutive vintages share about 80% of their sample, so the series is heavily smoothed - never difference overlapping vintages as if they were annual change. Estimates are survey-based and carry 90% margins of error (the *_moe columns); tract-level margins can be large relative to the estimate. All levels serve vintages 2020-2024 only, on 2020-vintage tract boundaries. State rows have NULL county_fips, district_code, and tract_geoid; county rows carry only county_fips, district rows only district_code, tract rows only tract_geoid. District rows cover the ~180 standard (city/county) districts only: the Census publishes school-district estimates at unified school district geography, which has no codes for charter schools, RESAs, or state agencies, and its few Census-only districts (e.g. the Fort Stewart military district) have no GCD district code and are dropped.