Example R snippet to wrangle US Census data via API

getCensusData.R

library(magrittr)
library(readr)
library(tidyr)
library(censusapi)

name <- "acs/acs5"  # See https://api.census.gov/data.html for list of tables for the name argument for listCensusMetadata()
vintage <- 2012

metadata <-
  listCensusMetadata(name = name, vintage = vintage) %>%
  select(name, label) %>%
  filter(grepl("^B01003", name))

key <- read_csv("C:/Users/or0250652/Documents/API keys/censusAPIKey.txt", col_names = FALSE) %>% pull(X1)

zcta5 <-
  getCensus(name, vintage, var = metadata$name, region = "zip code tabulation area", key = key) %>%
  pivot_longer(matches("\\d{5}"), values_to = "total") %>%
  rename(zcta5 = zip_code_tabulation_area) %>%
  mutate(vintage = vintage)

zcta3 <-
  zcta5 %>%
  mutate(zcta3 = substr(zcta5, 1, 3)) %>%
  group_by(vintage, zcta3) %>%
  summarize(total = sum(total, na.rm = TRUE)) %>%
  ungroup()