Knowledge is Power

"Knowledge itself is power."...Francis Bacon

"Information is not knowledge."...Albert Einstein

Over the course of my workday, I speak to many advisors around the country. As I do this, it helps to 'ground' me if I know a little about the community of the advisors that I work with. Today, I wanted to share the websites that I use as resources that provide interesting background information on states, counties, cities, and zip codes.

1. American Fact Finder, http://factfinder.census.gov. Great site that provides census data on every community in the US...down to individual zip codes. Each fact sheet contains information on: median age, % of population male/female, education levels, median household income, median home values, % of homes owner occupied...and much more.
2. www.city-data.com A commercial site that provides a thumbnail description of all US cities with a population of 1000+. Contains: geographical data, crime data, population data, housing, schools, businesses, maps, etc.When I'm speaking to someone who is living in a city that I am unfamiliar with...I type in their city, and this gives me a succinct community description.
3. www.50states.com Another commercial state that provides a plethora of information, important and trivial, about all of our 50 great states...from the Admission to Statehood, to Zoos. Great site if you are working with clients out-of-state with geographies that you may be unfamiliar with.
4. Population Reference Bureau, www.prb.org More 'academic' than the others. Informs about the population dimensions of  important social, economic, and political issues.
5. www.gcensus.com Provides census data over Google maps. This site is not associated with Google. Allows the viewer to click-and-point to any region on the globe and pull up interesting census data.

Hope these help. Happy Prospecting. Ciao!