What are ways to access documented indicators of literacy and limited English proficiency at a sub-State level?

The National Adult Literacy Survey found that low literacy skills were closely connected to economic, social, and personal issues such as:

• Poverty - Forty-three percent of adults with Level 1 literacy skills were living in poverty, compared to 4 percent of those at Level 5.
• Welfare - The likelihood of being on welfare went up as literacy skills went down. Seventy-five percent of Food Stamp recipients had Level 1 or Level 2 literacy skills.
• Income - Adults with Level 1 literacy skills earned a median income that was approximately 35 percent of those with Level 5 literacy skills.
• Employment status - Adults with Level 1 literacy skills worked an average of 19 weeks per year, compared to 44 weeks per year for those with Level 5 literacy skills.
• Crime - Seventy percent of individuals in penal institutions had Level 1 or Level 2 illiteracy skills.

These and other indicators and/or surrogates of low literacy and limited English proficiency are addressed by a variety of Federal, State, county, and city agencies; municipal organizations; private associations; and corporations.

...U.S. Census

The U.S. Census website (http://www.census.gov) provides information on a variety of indicators and/or surrogates of literacy and/ or limited English proficiency. Information is available for county and a variety of sub-county levels in tabular and thematic map formats. Some of the indicators and/or surrogates found in the 2000 Census include:

St. Louis Region identified minority populations by Census tract.

St. Louis Region identified poverty distribution by Census tract.

• Educational attainment by degree level (Summary File 3 [SF 3] Quick Tables, Demographic Profile-2 [DP-2] Profile of Selected Social Characteristics).1, 2
• Population by one race and by Hispanic or Latino and race (SF 1 Quick Tables, DP-1
• Profile of General Demographic Characteristics).3
• Disability of the civilian non-institutionalized population (SF 3 Quick Tables, DP-2 Profile of Selected Social Characteristics).
• Employment (SF 3 Quick Tables, DP-3 Profile of Selected Economic Characteristics).
• Income in 1999 by households and families (SF 3 Quick Tables, DP-3 Profile of Selected Economic Characteristics).
• Language spoken at home (SF 3 Quick Tables, DP-2 Profile of Selected Social Characteristics).
• Poverty status in 1999 of those below poverty level by families, families with female householder, no husband present, and individuals (SF 3 Quick Tables, DP-3 Profile of Selected Economic Characteristics).
• Τime leaving home to go to work for workers 16 years old and older (SF 3 Quick Tables, QT-P23).
• Units in structure (SF 3 Quick Tables, DP-4 Profile of Selected Housing Characteristics).
• Vehicles available per occupied unit (SF 3 Quick Tables, DP4 Profile of Selected Housing Characteristics).

...U.S. Department of Agriculture

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service website (http://www.ers.usda.gov/emphases/rural/gallery) provides a variety of thematic maps of county-level information for 1990 and 2000 populations, and migration by Environmental Justice populations, and 1999/2000 labor, education, income, poverty, and welfare.

Metro persistent poverty Other Metro
U.S. Department of Agriculture identifies metro and nonmetro persistent poverty counties (1970-2000).