The latest in the Islamic center controversy has the media focusing on a small church in Gainesville, Florida.  Here, Terry Jones, the outspoken anti-Islam pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center, has the spotlight.  Just this week, he cancelled a planned 9/11 Koran burning protest and is now visiting New York City.

This pastor and his 50 parishioners have the world’s attention, but how representative are they?

Beyond ideologies, Social Explorer can provide helpful numbers and context.  The Religious Congregations and Membership Survey, conducted by the Association of Religious Data Archives, tracks the number of religious adherents and congregations, as well as dozens of denominations.

In 2000, Alachua County, Florida (where the Dove World Outreach Center is located) had 217,955 residents and a diversity of religions.  The proportion of the population that is estimated to be religious is lower in Alachua County (43.13%) than in both the rest of Florida (50.79%) and the entire United States (61.49%).

While Catholicism is the largest religion nationwide, Evangelical Protestants make up the most popular religious group in Alachua County.  Terry Jones’ Dove World Outreach Center parishioners represent 0.15% of the total 33,865 Evangelical Protestants in the county.  They are greatly outnumbered numerically and in public opinion by other Evangelicals.

They are also outnumbered by Alachua County Muslims.  According to the 2000 survey, Alachua County was also home to 450 Muslims and one mosque.

For full details on the different religious groups in Alachua County and around the country, visit Social Explorer’s religious survey maps and reports.

In The Wall Street Journal’s “Young Women’s Pay Exceeds Male Peers’,” Conor Dougherty reports the latest findings on 20-something women.

In 2008, single, childless women between ages 22 and 30 were earning more than their male counterparts in most U.S. cities, with incomes that were 8% greater on average, according to an analysis of Census Bureau data released Wednesday by Reach Advisors, a consumer-research firm in Slingerlands, N.Y.

In the article, Social Explorer’s Andrew Beveridge “I expect the trend to continue.” And he would know–it’s a trend he’s been researching for years.

In 2007, the New York Times covered the topic in “For Young Earners in Big City, a Gap in Women’s Favor,” where an examination of young women (across all marital statuses and with or without children) in big cities revealed that women were now earning more than men in the work world.

Analyzing 2005 Census estimate data, Beveridge wrote about the unique social and economic position of New York City women for GothamGazette.com, finding that:

They are much more likely to be single, earn more money, and have more education than women living in the rest of the United States. And while the same percent of New York women are working as women elsewhere in the country, the jobs they are doing are much different.

A subsequent article about 20 somethings in New York City from the 1970s to the 2000s highlighted the achievement and wage gap between men and women.  Beveridge examined the trends of women beating men in educational attainment, and making gains in salary levels too.

Men have seen their real wages fall substantially and women outside of New York have seen only very modest gain…Over this period, women in New York City saw an amazing jump in their wages compared with those of men in their age group. While women in the city earned, on average about $7,000 less than men in 1970, by 2005 they made about $5,000 more. Interestingly, women in the country as a whole have closed the gap between their earning and those of men, but still lag behind.

Social Explorer helps you understand the trends of today with decades of data and context.

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Social Explorer’s Andrew Beveridge appeared on WNYC’s the Brian Lehrer Show for the wrap up of the show’s Census series.

You can listen to the entire segment here or on the show page.  (Beveridge joins the conversation at minute 30.)

The Brian Lehrer Show has been using Social Explorer maps to engage WNYC listeners in their Anecdotal Census project.  Check out all of their census coverage here.

A recent court ruling struck down Proposition 8, and now gays and lesbians can legally marry.  How many people might this affect?  Social Explorer can help you find out.

Since 2000, the Census has counted the number of unmarried partners, including same-sex unmarried partners, which can be an indicator of the number of people who might take the opportunity to get hitched in light of the recent court decision.

In 2000, 594,391 residents of the US identified as being in same-sex unmarried couples.  That number increased to 700,266–one in seven of which live in California, according to the 2006-08 American Community Survey.

Click the map to explore where unmarried same-sex partners live in California and around the nation.

Born in Chile, adopted at six months and raised in upstate New York by Italian parents, Snooki bloomed at the Jersey Shore last summer and is now taking over South Beach in season two of MTV’s The Jersey Shore.

From the top of her pouf to the bottom of her tanned toes, we know a lot about Nicole Polizzi, AKA Snooki, Snickas, Snooks, Snickers and the Princess of Poughkeepsie.  (Even Obama knows about her by now.)

The Washington Post describes her fame, “After the media storm of ‘Jersey Shore’s’ initial season, Snooki has every reason to believe the world revolves around her, which it very well may.”

Social Explorer lets you learn even more about this icon and her world.

For this installment of The Jersey Shore Data Hookup, we’ll use Social Explorer to find out all about her hometown of Marlboro, NY, (population 3,874) through an interactive map.

This map uses one of Social Explorer’s new color schemes called “Pink Panther”–ideal for fashionable mapmakers.

You can also create reports to find out more about where she grew up, such as:

-Just how Italian is Marlboro?  31.1% (nearly seven times the rate nationwide)

-And, how many other Chileans live nearby? 70 in Ulster County (total population 177,749)

Click on the map (or the pouf) to explore more.

Vampires are booming thanks to Twilight’s book sales, movie tickets and fainting fans.  With Social Explorer you can learn where they might be booming in the US too.

Count von Count wanted us to count up his vampire peers.

Of course, there is no “are you a vampire?” question on the census form, but using Social Explorer’s reports tools, you can examine the Romanian population—those hailing from the land of the legendary Transylvania, which is purportedly the land of Vampires.  (Of course being Romanian does not make one a vampire, who after all are mythical.  Besides, once bitten, one from any ancestry or origin can become a vampire.)

Vampire buzz is on the rise, and Social Explorer can (almost) let you work with vampiric datasets.

In 2000, the remote city of Forks, Washington (Clallam County), where the Twilight saga takes place, had eight residents who were born in Romania, and 29 who identified as having Romanian ancestry.

Because Clallam County has a small population, we won’t have the exact numbers on the Romanian  increase until the 2010 Census data are released, but using the American Community Survey estimates for 2006-2008, we can look at trends in Washington State to examine the population shifts.

Back in the 1920s (Nosferatu’s heyday), there were 102,803 US residents born in Romania. That number has grown to 164,294, according to the 2006-08 ACS.

As the Twilight books rose up the bestseller list, the Washington Romanian population grew too.  Between 2000 and 2008, the Romanian population in Washington State increased from 4,345 to 7,339, and the number of residents with Romanian ancestry increased from 9,964 to 17,041.

Click here to create Social Explorer reports about potential vampires, werewolves (purportedly  to have originated in Germany) and other notable populations.

In “White Population Rises in Manhattan,” Sam Roberts details the latest shift in the demographics of New York City.  Based on 2009 American Community Survey estimates, Roberts writes about the changes in the white population across the city, as well as in individual neighborhoods, such as Harlem.  This trend marks the first time since 1970 that a majority of Manhattan residents are non-Hispanic white.

The article quotes Social Explorer’s Andrew Beveridge on the larger population movements behind the shift, “Overall, the trend of people, particularly younger people, is staying in cities to build their lives and careers…People would die to live in Manhattan now.“

Click here to read the full article.

The experts have already sized up the World Cup teams, game statistics and rivalries, but what can we learn about the fans?  In preparation for World Cup game watching, Social Explorer gives you a glimpse into populations from all over the globe.

Focusing on the US’s competitors, during last week’s tight game with Slovenia, 175,701 US residents of Slovenian ancestry likely celebrated when the game tied.  (Slovenia has been a nation since 1991, and the Census has data on Slovenians in the US starting in 2000.)

In the final game of the first round, the US will face Algeria, and US fans will share cheers and jeers with the 171,284 US residents of Other Arab ancestry.  (Because few Algerians live in the US, residents with Algerian ancestry are counted together with other smaller Arab populations as “Other Arab” and with “Other Northern Africa” for place of birth.)

Plus, have you ever wondered how many of your neighbors might be carrying a vuvuzela?

A total of 52,209 US residents are of South African ancestry.

You can use Social Explorer’s reporting tools to size up the fan scene for your World Cup team, by ancestry or place of birth, before you head to that World Cup game gathering.  (All data cited above taken from the 2006-08 American Community Survey.)

For Social Explorer’s Swedish fans and admirers, check out this news piece from Swedish TV4 featuring an interview with Social Explorer’s Andrew Beveridge talking about young women earning more than their male counterparts.