LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES)

The LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES) data product is released both as part of the OnTheMap application and in raw form as a set of comma separated value (CSV) text files. The LODES data provides detailed spatial distributions of workers and jobs across the United States. It captures home-to-work relationships, employment by industry, worker demographics, and job characteristics at fine geographic levels (the base geographic level in LODES is the census block).

Since this documentation is focused on code samples, it will not detail all the specifics of the LODES data. For more information, users may find the following links/resources useful:

• OnTheMap Application: OnTheMap is an online mapping and reporting application showing where workers are employed and where they live with companion reports on worker characteristics and optional filtering by age, earnings, or industry groups. For the vast majority of users, most use cases of LODES data should be resolved with this application.

• LODES Technical Documentation: The technical documentation file details data structure, coverage and availability, variables, and geographic crosswalk information. Also in this document is information on the disclosure status of the LODES data product and Census Bureau Disclosure Review Board approval numbers. This document will be helpful to any user who intends to use the raw data files.

• LODES Files in a Directory Structure: The code samples in this documentation utilize the files from this URL.

• LODES in the LED Extraction Tool: This application allows users to build custom queries of raw LODES data using a graphical interface.

This section is divided into two sections, the first focused on individual building blocks for specific actions with LODES data, such as reading, aggregating, and merging. The second tackles a complex problem that brings all these building blocks together.

• 1. LODES Code Building Blocks
  • 1.1. Loading Data
  • 1.2. Combining and Aggregating Data
  • 1.3. Spatial and Geographic Analysis
  • 1.4. Combining Other Data with LODES
• 2. A Full LODES Example
  • 2.1. Loading Appropriate Data Files
  • 2.2. Finding Census Blocks Near Metro Stations
  • 2.3. Find Workers with Residence and Workplace Near Metro