Python census puller

_README.md

Python Census variable puller for Massachusetts data

./census-puller.py {{UNIT}} {{CENSUSVARS}}

census-puller.py

#/usr/bin/env python3

import requests
import csv
import argparse

parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Pull down data from Census variables")

parser.add_argument('unit')
parser.add_argument('censusvars')
args = parser.parse_args()

outfile = '{}.csv'.format(args.censusvars)

# This is the API endpoint for 2018 ACS 5 year data
url = 'https://api.census.gov/data/2018/acs/acs5?get=NAME,{}&for={}:*&in=state:25'.format(args.censusvars, args.unit)
print(url)

req = requests.get(url)

raw = req.json()

print (raw)

raw[0].append('geoid')
for index, row in enumerate(raw):
    if index > 0:
        raw[index].append('{}{}{}'.format(row[-3],row[-2],row[-1]) )


with open(outfile, 'w') as out:

    writer = csv.writer(out)

    writer.writerows(raw)