What This Tool Does
Meta removed granular demographic targeting from legal services advertising in 2022. The demographics platform is the workaround — it uses geographic concentration as a proxy for demographic targeting. If 78% of a county's population is Black women between 25 and 55, running a hair relaxer campaign in that county is functionally demographic targeting through geography.
The platform calculates a concentration index for each group in each location: the ratio of the location's ethnic concentration to the national average. A concentration index above 1.5 is flagged as HIGH priority for demographic-matched campaigns.
Data Source
The platform uses the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year Estimates for 2022 — the most comprehensive and reliable subnational demographic dataset available. ACS 5-year data covers all 50 states, Washington D.C., and all 3,143 U.S. counties, with margin of error calculations for small geographies.
- B02001_001E — Total population
- B02001_002E — White alone
- B02001_003E — Black or African American alone
- B02001_004E — American Indian and Alaska Native alone
- B02001_005E — Asian alone
- B03001_003E — Hispanic or Latino (any race)
Data refreshes annually following the November ACS release via automated Census API ingestion. Monthly cron ensures the platform always reflects the most current available estimates.
The Map Interface
The platform renders a national choropleth map at state level, with county drill-down on click. Each geographic unit is shaded by concentration index for the selected demographic group — the darker the shade, the higher the concentration relative to the national average. The interface supports side-by-side comparison of any two demographic groups, enabling compound targeting strategies for campaigns with intersecting demographics.
"Meta's algorithm does the rest. We identify the specific counties with the highest concentration index — the algorithm finds the right people within them."
— MTAA Targeting PhilosophyThe Facebook Export
The platform exports in three formats, all campaign-ready:
- Facebook Bulk Add — One location per line in the exact format required by Ads Manager's bulk location input. Paste directly into the Locations field. No reformatting required.
- Reference format — Full analysis with concentration index, national average comparison, and priority ranking (HIGH / MEDIUM / LOW) for each location.
- CSV export — Complete data table with FIPS codes, population figures, percentages, and concentration indices for integration with other tools.
Campaign Use Cases
Hair Relaxer / Uterine Cancer
Chemical hair relaxer use is heavily concentrated in Black communities. County-level Black population concentration directly maps to campaign geography. Top markets: Cook County IL, Wayne County MI, Fulton County GA, Harris County TX, Los Angeles County CA.
AFFF / Military Firefighter
AFFF exposure is concentrated in military and airport firefighter populations. Military-adjacent counties with high veteran populations are the primary targeting geography.
Environmental Exposure Torts
EPA TRI data combined with demographic concentration maps identifies communities that are both environmentally exposed and demographically concentrated — the double-signal that drives the most efficient plaintiff acquisition.
Consumer Product Liability
Product usage patterns correlate with demographic concentration in ways that generic targeting misses. The platform enables product-specific campaigns to reach the communities with the highest usage rates.
The Demographics Platform is available exclusively to plaintiff law firms working with MTAA on active campaigns.