Back to Basics: Household vs. Housing Unit
A mySidewalk Guide to Making Data Easier
Today, cities of all shapes and sizes are using data to make decisions. They are hiring experts, purchasing new tools, and are now, more than ever, focused on understanding information — anchoring the decisions they make to people and places in their communities. While paths to insight discovery may vary, the desired outcome is the same: Everyone, everywhere, wants to make better decisions — and data can help us all do that.
For those without GIS or technical backgrounds, the barriers to simply getting started are real. In the mySidewalk Back to Basics blog series, we’ll “start at the start,” focusing on the fundamentals and making it easier for everyone to talk about and do more with data.
The Decennial Census and American Community Survey (ACS) are two of the most trusted and detailed sources of information for describing neighborhoods, cities, and counties. However, when misinterpreted (an easy mistake given the format in which most data is presented), that information can be misleading. It’s important to be able to determine what data you need, where you can find it, and how to confidently interpret what you discover.
Let’s start with some simple terminology. Below you’ll find the difference between the term “Household” and “Housing Unit,” two common classifications that can be easy to confuse with one another.
The Difference Between Household & Housing Unit
A “Household” is referring to the people who are living in a housing structure and a “Housing Unit” is describing the actual structure in which residents live.
It is important to note that a household can be made up of family householders or non-family householders. The term “Family Householders” is referencing householders who are related to one another in birth, marriage, or adoption. A “Non-Family Householder” refers to someone who lives alone or is living with people who are not related to them.
“Household” data is useful when you want to learn more about the people living in a place. The following are examples of household data collected by the census:
- Family Household Size: Number of related people living in the housing unit
- Family Household: Referring to households of related people living together
- Generations within a Household: Number of different generations living in household
- Family Household with Householder Age: Age of householder owner
- Households with Husband and Wife: Households with both a married husband and wife
- Non-family Household Age: Age of householder who lives alone or with non-related residents
- Year Householder Moved into Unit: When the household owner moved into housing unit
Use “Housing Unit” datasets when you want to learn more about attributes of structures or the types of places where people are living. The following are examples of housing unit data collected by the census:
- Building Age of Housing Unit: Marks when building was first constructed
- Group Quarters Housing Units: Where people live or stay in a group arrangement (ex: assisted living home or a college dormitory)
- Housing Units Without Complete Kitchen Facilities: Places lacking cooking facilities, a refrigerator, or a sink with piped water
- Housing Units Without Complete Plumbing: Places that lack hot and cold piped water, a flush toilet, or a bathtub or shower
- Mortgage Status of Owner Occupied Housing Units: Housing units with a mortgage
The Magic of Merging
Datasets, when combined with other datasets and visualized, can yield especially powerful, deep insight. For instance, here is an example of two housing datasets being used together to learn more about where large families (5 or more relatives) are living without complete plumbing in Chicago, Illinois. (This map is interactive — be sure to use your mouse to zoom in and utilize the data available in the toolbar.)
When combined, this data instantly tells us more about the wellbeing of residents in these areas and this knowledge can be used to help with immediate resource allocation. For example, the annotation on the map reveals that in one census block group, 42 households with families of 5 or more are living without complete plumbing (places that lack hot and cold piped water, a flush toilet, and a bathtub or shower). The chart in the toolbar also reveals 91% of those residents are renters. Information like this is paramount in planning better, stronger communities.
What To Do Next
Now that you have more context, we recommend putting it into practice. You can access any of the datasets mentioned in this piece and apply them to your specific project area or community by simply signing into mySidewalk.
Once you are logged in, you can:
- Get a housing data summary: Select “Housing” on your home screen and then “View the Housing Snapshot” for a list of relevant housing data in your city.
- Answer more specific housing questions: Visit the Template Library and sort by “Housing” to quickly answer questions like “Where should we build more affordable housing?” or “Where are there households living below the poverty level?”
- Create an interactive map: Select “Create New” and then “Map” from the mySidewalk home page. Then, choose a location to instantly visualize any of the data mentioned in this article for your community.
Like this article? Subscribe to our newsletter to read more like it here.
mySidewalk is a data tool for people who want to understand places. With the ability to instantly answer thousands of community questions, mySidewalk makes it easy for anyone to use data to make better, more confident decisions.
About the Author: Lauren Nguyen is the marketing and events manager at mySidewalk. With little to no GIS experience, she is able to understand, find insight, and share maps for the content (see blog) she creates.
