Guide to Economic Data on WWW to Support Economic Impact Analyses

It is useful to compare economic impact estimates with broader estimates of economic activity in an area. For example, if you have used the MGM2 or MITEIM models to estimate spending and economic impacts of park visitors or some other group of tourists to an area, you may want to assess what portion of tourism spending/jobs in the region a particular attraction or event represents or how  important the park or tourism is to the local economy.  Impacts of a particular park or activity are best understood first, within the context of all tourism activity in an area, and then in terms of the importance of tourism  relative to other economic sectors. Comparison of income from park visitors with tourism income or overall income in a region can help validate your impact estimates. For example, predicted hotel sales (jobs or income) from visitors to a particular park shouldn't exceed overall hotel sales (jobs or income) in the area.  The percentage of hotel sales, income, or jobs being attributed to a particular park, facility or activity should be reasonable, taking into account the relative importance of the park, facility, or activity in filling hotel rooms. If a park is the single primary tourist attraction in an area, park visitors may account for 80% or more of overall hotel sales, while the park share will be much smaller if there are many other generators of room nights in hotels including business travel, conventions, and other tourist attractions in the area.

A great deal of economic data for local areas is now available on the WWW. One simply needs to know where to find it, exactly what the data represents,  and how to use it. Most useful are estimates of jobs or income that are broken down by economic sector and are available at a county level. The four most useful sectors for recreation and tourism analysis are  lodging, restaurants, amusements and retail trade. Economic data prior to 2000 is usually reported by SIC sectors, while more recent data uses the NAICS industry classification system  (Learn about NAICS). To identify tourism industries, data must be disclosed at a two-digit SIC level or finer.

A useful guide to sources of regional economic data is:  Socioeconomic Data for Understanding Your Regional Economy: A User's Guide.

The primary federal government sources of economic data are listed below with a brief summary of what is available at each site and some help in navigating the websites. Note that most of these sites require a Java enabled browser to choose and display the requested tables. Most have an option to download the data in readable format (csv, excel etc.) or view as HTML tables. Be aware that the sites frequently change making it difficult sometimes to find the same data you downloaded last year or for me to keep up with the changes.

Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)

For State level analysis,  estimates of Gross State product may be downloaded. These cover value added components (employee compensation, indirect business taxes and property type income) by industry.   Note that 2001 data is not yet disclosed below the one-digit level, but estimates for 2000 and earlier are. (Navigation: Under Regional choose Gross State Product, then Interactive Tables, and choose components, state, industries and year.

County level Income and employment data.  BEA's Regional Economic Information System (REIS) is an excellent source of employment and income estimates for local areas. BEA REIS coverage is more complete than BLS "covered employment" figures, but since   (Navigation: Under Regional, Choose State and Local Personal Income, Local Area Annual Estimates, Interactive Tables, In Step 1 choose detailed county annual tables by NAICS for 2001 or SIC for earlier years going as far back as 1969.). Select either employment data income data. Income data is available for fairly detailed sectors while employment is reported in more aggregate categories. For example lodging and restaurant income are reported separately but employment data is only available for the combined NAICS sector.

Regional Multipliers : See the BEA Regional Multipliers section for sectors included and ordering information. BEA produces multipliers for local areas using their RIMS II input-output model. Multipliers for any region consisting of one or more counties can be purchased for $275 per region. The RIMS II User handbook provides an explanation and sample applications of multipliers.  MIG, INC also will produce multipliers from their IMPLAN input-output modeling system.

Other: BEA also reports national level data for particular industries, including tourism satelite accounts. Local area estimates of transfer payments are available by SIC as part of the local area income reports.

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

Useful data at BLS website  include price indices, consumer expenditures and especially BLS's detailed employment estimates. The BLS site can be confusing to navigate so we provide direct links to the NAICS and SIC based estimates of "covered employment" below. (Navigation: From BLS home, find "State and County employment" in the Employment & Unemployment section. In the Get Detailed statistics section select from NAICS or SIC under "Create customized tables (one screen).

SIC data is available from 1997-2000 and NAICS for 2001. There are more finely defined sectors within the suggested groups. If data is not disclosed at the finer detail, try the more aggregate
sectors. Remember that individual firms are classified based on their primary product or service, so in the SIC data a ski area  may be classified as a hotel if that is the  largest revenue source or as an amusement. The classification of service sectors is improved in the NAICS system for example, distinguishing B&B's and hotels with casinos as separate lodging categories and including a distinct "skiing facilities" sector #71392. However, keep in mind that each business must be classified in only one category so firms that provide skiing in winter, golf in the summer, and operate a year-round resort and conference facilities could be classified in any one of several categories.

U.S. Census Bureau: The Census Bureau conducts an economic census every five years.1997 data is currently available. The 2002 Census is currently underway. Economic Census data can be very detailed, but are available less frequently than the BLS or BEA sources. 

The 2002 Economic Census data is at http://www.census.gov/econ/census02/. The industry series are now available and geographic reports are scheduled for release during 2005.  NAICS sectors 71 (Arts, Entertainment and Recreation),  72 (Accomodations and Food Services) and 48-49 (Transportaton) are the most useful for recreation and tourism. The reports provide the number of establishments, annual sales and payroll and number of employees the week of March 12.

The direct link to 1997 economic census data is : http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/econ97.html. Like County Business Patterns that are reported annually, the Census reports number of establishments, receipts, payroll, and paid employees. Two distinct sets of estimates are available - one for businesses with paid employees and another for businesses without paid employees (e.g. sole proprietors). The former covers the vast majority of income and jobs, although some sectors contain large numbers of  businesses without paid employees.

Navigation : the economic census site is quite friendly once you get the hang of it. You can download pdf reports for particular sectors and states or "drill down" through the data online in the "data for all sectors" section. 1992 and 1997 data is available by SIC for states and 1997 data by NAICS is available for counties and metro areas. The NAICS 1997 data  is the most useful. Begin by selecting the arrow at the left of this item. This shows national estimates by primary NAICS sector. Choose arrows beside any one of these to disaggregate further, for example next to sector 72 Accomodations and Food Service to see more detailed categories. Finer geographic detail is obtained by choosing a state in upper right hand corner. Then choose a county or metro area to "drill down"  further. If you drill down too far both by geography and sector, some data may not be disclosed. Choose the "nonemployers" link at the top left of any table to see the corresponding non-employer data.

County Business Patterns.  The U.S. Census site for County Business Patern data is http://censtats.census.gov/.  Data is available on SIC basis for 1994-1997 and NAICS basis for 1998-2002. The 2002 CBP data for states and counties is at http://censtats.census.gov/cbpnaic/cbpnaic.shtml   Data can be produced at county, zipcode or metro area level. The most useful data is annual payroll and number of establishments. Employment data is for mid-march, which isn't very good for seasonal industries. CBP data excludes several employment categories (self-employed, government, agriculture). CBP data may be downloaded for individual states in csv format or the data may be purchased aon CD-ROM.  See the FAQ and definition sections of CBP website for further information about coverage and sources. CBP data is also available from the Geospatial and Statistical Data Center at the University of Virginia (http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/cbp/). Here items must be retrieved individually or via anonymous FTP.
 
Regional Sources

A number of state, regional and local agencies provide access to federal data for a given state or region, in some cases supplemented with other local data sources. These sites sometimes include graphing, data comparisons and other features that go beyond what is available at the federal sites.  Check with your state demographer/economic development office, regional planning agency or local University  (extension office). One good example is the Office of Social and Economic Trend Analysis at Iowa State University, which provides quite detailed population, economic and other data for 12 midwestern states down to the county and city level.

Tourism Data from States

We have compiled links to state travel offices and especially to sites that report the amount of travel activity, spending and economic impacts at the state or substate levels.
These are at  Tourism economic data by state.  





Other links

Statistical Abstract of the United States - abstract of data sources - see recreation and tourism sections or economic chapters..
BEA's Guide to NIPA Accounts)