Are you thinking about moving to a new neighborhood and want to check it out first?

Or thinking of starting a retail business in another area of your city and want to know all about the area demographically and economically before you finalize the deal?

For either of these reasons -- and a host of others -- you may find yourself needing to research a neighborhood. So, where do you start?

You'll be glad to know that numerous web-property entrepreneurs, not to mention the U.S. Census Bureau, have done most of the hard lifting for you already. The type and detail of the information you can find at almost any geographic level you choose - from national all the way down to researching neighborhoods - is amazing.

U.S. Census Bureau's American Factfinder

You can get lost in the Census Bureau's website, it's that vast. But frankly, in my humble opinion, the presentation of demographic data on the site could be a little more straightforward. In fact, a lot more straightforward.

It turns out the Census Bureau is actually giving you two types of data here, namely 2010 census data and much frequently updated American Community Survey data.

Both types of data provide about the same level of detail, which I'll discuss below. The main difference is that the latter type, the American Community Survey data, is not based on a census but on sampling. So its accuracy won't be quite equal to the census data, but – depending on when you access it – it may be more current.

The Census Bureau wants to make us work a little to get access to all this great information so it mixes it all together and then lets us figure out what's what. Here's what I think is the simplest way to get at it. Go straight to the American Factfinder page on the site. From there you can access demographic/economic profiles based on state, city, town, or zip code, but be aware that if the geographic area you select (say, by zip code) has less than 65,000 residents, you will get 2010 census data, not the American Community Survey sampling data.

Given the above - namely that, at present, the more recent data is only available for geographic areas with more than 65,000 residents -- here's the kind of data you'll get --

-- Population and rate of population growth

-- Median home cost

-- Home appreciation last year

-- Cost of living compared to U.S.

-- Public school expenditures per student compared to U.S.

-- Unemployment rate

-- Median age

-- Average household size

-- Racial composition

-- Per capita income

-- Median household income

-- Real estate data

By the way, each fact sheet's data is dated in a blue tab at the top of the table.

You'll also have access to so-called "briefs" for most of these demographic characteristics, which provide analogous information for the nation as a whole, or, in the case of more recent American Community Survey data, a "rank" table which shows you how U.S. geographic areas rank in terms of that characteristic. There is much, much more on this site, and you can spend hours perusing it.

Sperling's Best Places

Sperling's Best Places is a terrific site for research - it's based largely on U.S. Census Bureau data, which you already accessed above, but it presents the data in a better context, and adds many nice touches. For example, it provides a host of links to helpful articles like "10 Best Places to Live," "Best & Worst Cities for Dating," "Best Cities for Seniors," and "Best Green Places." You can also read comments from real-live residents of the community you're researching ("The creepiest place in Seattle, in my opinion, is...").

In addition to the Overview for a given community, Sperling provides a separate page for each of these categories: People, Economy, Housing, Health, Crime, Climate, Education, Transportation, Cost of Living, Religion, and Voting, plus helpful links to (mostly) government web pages on relevant subjects, such as - in the case of Seattle -- "Wildlife Refuges in Washington," "Endangered Species in Washington," "Aerial Photos of Seattle," etc.

The aim being, of course, to provide a one-stop shop for researching a given area. And it does a pretty good job. However, I advise also using the Census Bureau's site, as the data is labeled better there as to currency and coverage.