Lab · Free tool · v1.0.0

Build your own simulated population

Turn a question into an inspectable population model. Filter 39.5 million Californians from public Census microdata, weigh two kinds of scenario against the people you selected, draw attribute-only personas, and export everything with its assumptions attached.

Define the question. One sentence. It travels with every export so the assumptions stay attached to the decision.
Filter the population. Age, personal income band, education, employment, sex and race. Every count is weighted, so it reads as people in California, not rows in a file.
Compare scenarios. A verified universal-basic-income policy model, and a reach-and-adoption estimate for a product, price or budget decision where every assumption is a visible input.
Draw personas. Records sampled from your selection in proportion to their survey weight, described by attributes only. Synthetic composites drawn from Census microdata. Not real people.
Export. A self-contained interactive HTML report, a CSV of the personas and a JSON of every input, built in your browser.

How to read the numbers: observed comes straight from a Census record · calculated is weighted arithmetic on those records · simulated is the UBI model's output · assumed is something you typed · estimate is arithmetic on assumptions and not a forecast.

Statewide baseline

Default population, no filters. Computed at build time from 12,000 Census records, each representing 3,293 Californians.

observed Records: 12,000
calculated People represented: 39,512,222
calculated Share of California: 100%
calculated Median personal income: $16,566
calculated Mean personal income: $38,857
calculated Mean age: 38.2

Age calculated

Under 1822.4%

18–249.3%

25–3415.4%

35–4413.6%

45–5411.8%

55–6412.5%

65+15.0%

Personal income calculated

$0 or less31.6%

$1–$14,99916.4%

$15,000–$29,99913.8%

$30,000–$49,99912.7%

$50,000–$74,9999.3%

$75,000–$99,9995.8%

$100,000–$149,9995.6%

$150,000 or more4.8%

simulated Default UBI scenario on this baseline — $1,000/month to adults 18+, 30% flat tax on personal income: program cost $367.7B, tax revenue $460.6B, net gainers 18.34M, poverty proxy 45.8% → 32.9%. Model output on a weighted Census sample. Illustrative, not a fiscal forecast; poverty uses a personal-income proxy, not the official household measure.

Workbench

Loads 12,000 records (670 KB) into your browser on first view. Nothing you enter leaves the page. Assumption-driven estimate, not a forecast applies to every reach output.

JavaScript is off, so the interactive workbench is not running. The statewide baseline above, the step-by-step description and the methodology are complete without it. With JavaScript on, the tool runs entirely in your browser and makes no network requests beyond loading the public data file.

Static baseline shown. Controls enable once the data loads in a JavaScript-enabled browser.observedcalculatedsimulatedassumedestimate

01 Define the question

What decision is this population for? Stored with every export. assumed

02 Filter the population

Age

fromto

Personal income band

Education

Employment

Sex

Race

observed records12,000

calculated people represented39,512,222

calculated share of California100.00%

calculated median personal income$16,566

calculated mean personal income$38,857

calculated mean age38.2

Age calculated

Under 1822.4% 8,867,201

18–249.3% 3,658,173

25–3415.4% 6,081,590

35–4413.6% 5,383,540

45–5411.8% 4,669,028

55–6412.5% 4,932,442

65+15.0% 5,920,248

Personal income calculated

$0 or less31.6% 12,472,692

$1–$14,99916.4% 6,480,004

$15,000–$29,99913.8% 5,462,565

$30,000–$49,99912.7% 5,021,345

$50,000–$74,9999.3% 3,691,100

$75,000–$99,9995.8% 2,291,709

$100,000–$149,9995.6% 2,206,099

$150,000 or more4.8% 1,886,709

Education calculated

N/A (under 3 yrs)3.4% 1,353,294

No HS diploma30.9% 12,212,569

High school17.3% 6,842,200

Some college / Associate23.4% 9,235,982

Bachelor's16.3% 6,427,322

Graduate degree8.7% 3,440,856

Employment calculated

Employed48.6% 19,219,404

Unemployed2.6% 1,017,440

Armed forces0.3% 121,829

Not in labor force28.6% 11,297,203

Under 1619.9% 7,856,347

03 Compare scenarios

A · UBI policy model simulated

The verified California UBI model, applied to the filtered population. Parameters are assumptions; outputs are model results, not fiscal forecasts.

Adult benefit $1,000/moChild benefit $0/moAdult age 18 yrsIncome tax rate 30%

Model outputs appear when the data loads.

B · Reach and adoption estimate

For a product, price or budget decision. Every input is an assumption you make; the outputs are arithmetic on the weighted population. Assumption-driven estimate, not a forecast.

Eligible share of filtered population%Awareness rate among eligible%Adoption rate among aware%Value per adopter isRevenue per adopter per period$Budget for the period$

estimate eligible people19,756,111

estimate aware people3,951,222

estimate adopters197,561

estimate adopters as share of filtered0.50%

estimate total revenue per period$23,707,333

estimate budget per adopter$1.27

estimate revenue ÷ budget94.83×

Assumption-driven estimate, not a forecast. No behavioral model, no calibration, no uncertainty range. The population is real and weighted; the rates are yours.

04 Draw personas

Synthetic composites drawn from Census microdata. Not real people. Each card is one record from your filtered selection, drawn with probability proportional to its survey weight, described by the attributes on the record and nothing else.

PersonasSeed

Persona cards appear when the data loads.

05 Export

Built in your browser from the current state; nothing is uploaded. Each file carries the question, filters, assumptions, results and the same labels and disclaimers shown here.

Free lab tool on public Census microdata. Runs entirely in your browser; nothing you type is sent anywhere. Methodology, limitations and reuse.