2013 California Census Block–Level Aggregated Opportunity Database

The California Census Block–Level Aggregated Opportunity Database was constructed using data from the 2013 National Establishments Time Series (NETS), a comprehensive dataset containing detailed information on business establishments across the United States. The NETS dataset includes each establishment’s industry classification (14 distinct categories), reported number of employees, and geographic coordinates (longitude and latitude). Using these point-based records, all establishments located within California were spatially aggregated to the U.S. Census block level. For each block, employment counts for each industry category were summarized and standardized by block area to produce density measures representing the concentration of economic opportunities. The resulting dataset characterizes the spatial distribution of employment opportunities across California at the census block level. In total, the database covers 691,721 census blocks after excluding water and mountainous areas.Each variable corresponds to the employment density (employees per square kilometer) of a specific industry sector aggregated from the NETS database. EMPMAN represents manufacturing; EMPPRO represents professional, scientific, management, administrative, and waste management services; EMPFINA represents finance, insurance, real estate, and rental and leasing; EMPTRA represents transportation, warehousing, and utilities; EMPPUB represents public administration; EMPART represents arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation, and food services; EMPHEA represents healthcare; EMPWHO represents wholesale trade; EMPINF represents information; EMPOTH represents other services (except public administration); EMPCON represents construction; EMPRET represents retail trade; EMPAGR represents agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, and mining; and EMPEDU represents education. These variables measure employment density (employees per square kilometer) for each industry category at the census block level.