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Nature Photo #2 - Credit to Madison Yohn.jpg

DASHBOARd

2026 themes dashboard

This dashboard brings together publicly available data sources to provide a deep-dive into key indicators of the Springfield Ozarks region. Explore the data below, covering the following topics:

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  • Common Theme: Children & Families

  • Common Theme: Community Engagement

  • Housing Market Snapshot

  • Labor Market Snapshot

Nature Photo #4 - Credit to Madison Yohn.jpg

additional dashboardS

ABOUT THE DATA

The data in the dashboards below come from the American Community Survey (ACS) administered by the Census Bureau. Aside from the decennial census, the Bureau collects community data throughout the year with the ACS, covering topics including, but not limited to:

 

  • Population demographics

  • Travel to work

  • Housing

  • Education

  • Income

  • Public assistance

  • Health insurance coverage

Communities can then use this data to understand key trends that can inform a variety of policy and advocacy actions.

The Bureau provides this data to communities in a few ways:

 

  • Tables are published by the Bureau showing the estimates of each data point. The Bureau publishes over 200 tables covering many intersections of the topic areas they collect. 

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  • Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS) are like a “raw data” source that users can then use to create their own estimates that may not be already published in a table. 

​In the dashboards below, each visual is labeled with either the table the data came from, or a note if the estimates were generated using PUMS data. Users are welcome to look up those tables at data.census.gov/table to explore more.

errors & estimates

As a survey, it is important to remember that the ACS reports estimates for each data point they collect. Each estimate is reported with a margin of error, which can be thought of as the space where the true value of the estimate lies.

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Most visuals in the dashboards represent the estimates and margin of error like the figure to the right.

The margin of error is space where the true value may truly be.

The point estimate is the best guess of the value.

In practice, this provides us with some simple guidance on interpreting estimates: 

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  1. Estimates with margins of error that cross zero should be cautiously interpreted. 

  2. Estimates with margins of error that overlap each other may not be as different from each other as they appear.  

learn more

Find out more about the ACS here: American Community Survey (ACS) 

 

Explore additional tables for Greene County and beyond here: Census Bureau Tables 

 

Take a deeper dive into the difference between 1-Year and 5-Year estimates here: Using 1-Year or 5-Year American Community Survey Data 

 

Further guidance and resources for using ACS data can be found here: Guidance for Data Users 

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