Documentation

Overview

[Project and data source overview goes here.]

Data Source

Property Details
Source [Data source name and URL]
Coverage [Geographic scope, e.g. Utah census tracts]
Years [Year range, e.g. 2009–2023]
Unit of observation [e.g. Census tract × year]
Total rows [e.g. ~9,240]

Key Variables

Outcome Variable

Variable Description
[outcome_variable] [What it measures, e.g. median monthly owner costs with mortgage]

Predictors

Variable Description
[predictor_1] [Description]
[predictor_2] [Description]
[predictor_3] [Description]
[predictor_4] [Description]
[predictor_5] [Description]

Python Package: utah-housing

The utah-housing package provides functions to fetch ACS data directly from the Census API and compute derived housing affordability metrics.

Installation

pip install utah-housing

Note: A free Census API key is required. Obtain one at https://api.census.gov/data/key_signup.html and set it as an environment variable:

export CENSUS_API_KEY="your_key_here"

Core Functions

from utah_housing import fetch_all_years, OUTCOME, BASE_PREDICTORS, COMPLEX_PREDICTORS

# Fetch ACS 5-year estimates for all years
df = fetch_all_years(years=range(2009, 2024))

# Inspect variable groupings
print("Outcome:", OUTCOME)
print("Base predictors:", BASE_PREDICTORS)
print("Complex predictors:", COMPLEX_PREDICTORS)

Function Reference

Function Description
fetch_all_years(years) Fetches ACS 5-year estimates for all Utah census tracts across the given year range
OUTCOME String constant naming the outcome variable
BASE_PREDICTORS List of basic predictor variable names
COMPLEX_PREDICTORS List of extended predictor variable names

License

MIT 2025