pycancensus: Canadian Census Data in Python

pycancensus provides a Python interface to access Canadian Census data and geographies, offering a Python equivalent to the R cancensus package.

Contents:

• Tutorials
  • Getting Started with pycancensus
  • Working with Geographic Data
  • Data Caching and Performance
• Example Gallery
• R Equivalence Validation
  • Validation Summary
  • Detailed Validation Examples
  • Syntax Conversion Reference
  • Known Issues
  • Conclusions
  • Running the Validator
  • Further Documentation
• Migration Guide: R to Python
  • Quick Start
  • Function Equivalence
  • Syntax Conversion
  • Side-by-Side Examples
  • Return Type Conversions
  • Visualization Migration
  • Common Migration Patterns
  • Key Differences to Remember
  • Performance Comparison
  • Troubleshooting
  • Complete Example
  • Further Reading
• API Reference
  • Core Data Access
  • Dataset Management
  • Region Operations
  • Vector/Variable Operations
  • Configuration Management
  • Cache Management

Key Features

• Access to Canadian Census data through Statistics Canada’s API

• Geographic data integration with Census boundaries

• Data caching for improved performance

• Compatible with pandas and geopandas workflows

• Command-line interface for quick data access

Quick Start

Install pycancensus from GitHub (not yet on PyPI):

pip install git+https://github.com/dshkol/pycancensus.git

Get started with basic census data:

import pycancensus as pycan

# Set your API key
pycan.set_api_key("your_api_key_here")

# Get census data
data = pycan.get_census(
    dataset="CA21",
    regions={"CMA": "59933"},  # Vancouver CMA
    vectors=["v_CA21_1"]       # Population
)

Installation

Note: pycancensus is not yet published on PyPI. Install directly from GitHub:

# Install latest version
pip install git+https://github.com/dshkol/pycancensus.git

Coming soon: Publication to PyPI for pip install pycancensus

For development:

git clone https://github.com/dshkol/pycancensus
cd pycancensus
pip install -e .[dev,docs]

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see our GitHub repository for more information.

Indices and tables

• Index

• Module Index

• Search Page