They invade homes every summer, and their numbers are growing.  They are young adults returning home to live with their parents.  In the New York Times article “Offspring Who Cling to the Nest,” Gina Bellafante observes specimens from this species up close, and cites data from Social Explorer’s Andrew Beveridge.

We are now at the end of the season when college graduates move out of their dorms and on to their new lives. But it seems as if many of them end up back in their old rooms at home. To support that observation, the past week saw the release of new census data pointing to the toll the recession has taken on certain kinds of domestic arrangements. Across the country, from 2007 to 2010, the number of adult children living with their parents increased by 1.2 million. Despite constrictions of space, and despite the sense that the economy has rebounded more successfully here than it has in many other parts of the country, the trend is very much in evidence in New York. According to an analysis of census data by the Queens College sociologist Andrew A. Beveridge last week, 45 percent of the city’s 22- to 24-year-olds live at home. Among those ages 22 to 39, nearly a quarter — 22 percent — do. These numbers have increased since 2000 and went up more during the recession.

With fewer jobs, more unpaid internships, and the expense of living in New York City, the trend continues to rise.  Fortunately, according to a Pew Research Center Study on the Boomerang Generation, most of them get along–with 68 percent of respondents between 18 and 34 who live with their parents are “very satisfied” with their family life.

Beveridge is well versed in this trend, both through data analysis and a very local data point who returned to his own nest for a time.

Click here to read the full article.

Social Explorer and Oxford University Press took a trip through the American West 200 years ago.  See the Oxford University blog post here, also available on Oxford’s website.

On this day in 1804, two Virginian explorers set out on a journey west in what would become the legendary Lewis and Clark Expedition. And in their footsteps, we can follow America’s expansion west.

Back in 1800 before the epic trip, the US population was 5.3 million. Ten years later, it increased to 7.2 million — a 36 percent increase. As shown in the following maps, this growth continued, and started moving west, adding territories and states along the way.

US Growth the First 100 Years After Lewis and Clark Explored

Click for an interactive slideshow.

The population of the northeast region — once the focal point of the US — shrank by 1.1 percent from 2000 to 2010. The Midwest also saw a decline in population (1.2 percent). Meanwhile, the South and the West grew, 1.5 percent and 0.8 percent respectively.

Twenty years after the Rodney King beating and Los Angeles riots, the city demographics have changed significantly.  In the New York Times article “In Years Since the Riots, a Changed Complexion in South Central,” Jennifer Medina examines this shift.  The article and accompanying maps include Social Explorer data.

When racially charged riots blazed here two decades ago, South Central became a national symbol of rage in a poor black neighborhood.

But the population of the area has changed significantly in the time since the acquittal of white police officers in the Rodney King beating inflamed racial tensions across this city.

Today, immigrants from Mexico and Central America live on blocks that generations ago were the only places African-Americans could live. In the former center of black culture in Los Angeles, Spanish is often the only language heard on the streets…

In the 1990s, black residents made up roughly half the population in South Central. Today, Latinos account for about two-thirds of the residents in what is now called South Los Angeles — “Central” was officially scrubbed from the neighborhood’s name by the City Council in 2003. In the 20-some square miles that make up the area, stretching southwest of downtown from the Santa Monica Freeway to the Century Freeway and as far west as Inglewood, there are 80,000 fewer blacks than there were in 1990.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

In the New York Times article “One Hundred Years of Staying Put,” Benjamin Weiser and Noah Rosenberg tell the tale of Lillian Jacobs, a woman who has lived on the same Upper East Side block for over 100 years.  The story cites Social Explorer’s Andrew Beveridge on the topics of demographics and longtime locals:

Ms. Jacobs is already a demographic rarity: she was one of 2,126 city residents 100 and over recorded in the 2010 census. But even though very few New Yorkers can claim a century spent in essentially one place, the notion of maintaining roots on a street is not entirely uncommon, said Andrew A. Beveridge, a Queens College sociologist.

A decade ago, Professor Beveridge recalled, one of his students interviewed a man of about 100 who had lived his entire life in the same house in Richmond Hill, Queens.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

Social Explorer is at the USA Science and Engineering Festival in DC this weekend.  We’re glad to be back at the sociology booth, organized and hosted by the American Sociological Association.

With help from the Obamas, Justin Bieber, Nemo and Harry Potter, we investigate how American Families have changed over the past fifty years.  Come on down to our booth (#734) to explore sociology to try our activity:

Science of the Modern Family: Using Sociology to explore how kids and their families live today

In the New York Times article “For Most, Choice of Stay-at-Home Motherhood Is Far From a Luxury.” Susan Saulny examines the realities of balancing motherhood and career in today’s economy and work world.  With a debate over Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen’s comment on Ann Romney’s choice to not work swirling in the news, Saulny discusses the actual demographic profile of stay-at-home mothers.  She cites census data and analysis from Social Explorer’s Andrew Beveridge:

Stay-at-home mothers are younger, less educated and more likely to be Hispanic than they were in previous generations, and perhaps have a more traditional view of family and more limited job skills than other women these days, according to a Census Bureau report that analyzed changes in stay-at-home motherhood from 1969 to 2009. Eighteen percent of stay-at-home mothers lack a high school degree, compared with 7 percent of women in the work force. And black women were about half as likely as white women to be stay-at-home mothers.

Across the country, 70 percent of married women over the age of 25 with children work outside the home. The median income of those households is about $87,700, compared with $64,000 for households where the mother stays at home, according to an analysis by Andrew A. Beveridge, a sociologist at Queens College of the City University of New York. “The biggest difference is education,” he said.

Click here to read the full article.

Tim Tebow in New York by artist Janet Hamlin (Newsday)

On this Passover and Easter weekend, football enthusiasts may be celebrating another holiday–the arrival of Tim Tebow.  In her Newsday op-ed “Tim Tebow in the secular city,” Hofstra religion Professor Julie Byrne explains that prayerful Tebow might fit right into his new town.

Tebow and the Jets — how’s that going to fly?

When it became public that Denver Broncos quarterback and Christian poster boy Tim Tebow was coming to New York, that was the big question.

How will it fly for a transplant from the conservative Christian heartland to play for a team in the world center of religious pluralism? For someone who doesn’t take the Lord’s name in vain to work for famous cusser Rex Ryan? For someone who abstains from sex before marriage to hang with randy Jets teammates?

It will fly just fine.

In addition to not being the first publicly religious sports star, Tim Tebow is moving to a city that is actually more religious than many would think, as Byrne explains using Social Explorer’s Andrew Beveridge’s analysis:

While New York has a reputation for godlessness, both city and state actually have higher rates of membership in organized religion than the country as a whole. In 2000, the proportion of state residents who belonged to some religious body was 76 percent — compared with 61 percent in the United States as a whole — according to an analysis by Queens College sociologist Andrew Beveridge. Even higher numbers specifically for the tristate region put it in the top 9 percent of urban areas in terms of religiosity, ahead of Salt Lake City and Little Rock.

Explore the religion demography yourself using Social Explorer’s maps and reports of InfoGroup – American Church Lists data.

In the New York Times article, “Population Growth in New York City Is Outpacing 2010 Census, 2011 Estimates Show,” Sam Roberts examines recent demographic trends in the city.  For New York, population growth levels almost match those from 20 years ago–the 1990s are back.

New York City gained nearly 70,000 residents in the 15 months ended July 1, 2011, almost matching the growth of the 1990s, when an influx of foreigners set annual records, according to census estimates released on Wednesday.

The apparent population rebound resulted from a combination of continued immigration and higher birthrates among the newcomers, along with fewer New Yorkers leaving the city.

The article cites Social Explorer’s Andrew Beveridge, “Based upon this new round of estimates, it appears that New York City has returned to quite robust growth…the demographic effects of the financial crisis may be starting to wane.”

According to the newly released 2011 Census estimates (based on growth between April 1, 2010 and July 1, 2011):

• NYC grew by 69,777, to a total population 8,244,910
• Brooklyn and Queens had the most population growth (28,000 and 17,000 respectively)
• City growth accounted for 80 percent of the state’s growth

Click here to read the full article.

For the latest on a contested primary election in New York City’s upper Manhattan congressional district, check out the Capital New York article, “Adriano Espaillat, Charlie Rangel, and the coalition-fracturing primary neither of them wanted.”  The story details the demographics of the district and the impact of the new district lines on the communities and candidates.  It also cites Social Explorer’s Andrew Beveridge as Mr. CVAP.

The Hispanic community in the new district contains a sizable immigrant population, which means that a number of the Hispanic residents—even those who are part of the voting-age population—aren’t citizens, and therefore aren’t eligible to vote.

The Citizen Voting Age Population (or CVAP) for the district is just under 45 percent, according to estimates from Andrew Beveridge, a redistricting expert (and self-proclaimed “Mr. CVAP”). The black CVAP, according to Beveridge, is just over 34 percent, and the white CVAP is about 17 percent.

Also, this week, the Census Bureau released its 1940 individual records.  (Census records over 72 years old are made public.)  The Bergen Record article “Data Will be a Boon for History Buffs,” details the release’s significance to genealogy, data and history enthusiasts, and cites Beveridge on access to this data.

The release of questionnaires will provide the most detail to date of life at that time, experts say. While reports for towns, counties and states were initially released in 1942, the individual census forms can help people track family members or provide a clearer picture of what a town or neighborhood was like 72 years ago.

“Because of the massive advances in computer technology and data analysis, we’ll be able to see lots more things about the data than people did in 1942,” said Andrew Beveridge, a professor of sociology at Queens College in New York.

That detail will include who lived on which streets, where immigrant groups clustered and who was unemployed.

Stay tuned to the blog for more Social Explorer in the news.

Starting on Wednesday, March 28, Social Explorer will be served from the Amazon Cloud through Amazon Web Services. We have run extensive testing and expect that most users will not even notice the change. If you experience any access or other issues, please let us know at support@socialexplorer.com immediately.

This move is necessary as we begin to add world wide data and attract world wide users. It will also support our soon-to-launch Social Explorer 2.0.

We say hello to Amazon Web Services, as we improve the way we bring you all of our resources and tools.

See you in the cloud!