Lapkoff & Gobalet Demographic

What Lapkoff & Gobalet Demographic does

Lapkoff & Gobalet Demographic Research, Inc. (LGDR) is a private, founder-led demographic consulting firm founded in 1989 by Dr. Shelley Lapkoff and joined as principal by Dr. Jeanne Gobalet in 1992. The firm provides custom demographic research, GIS-based mapping, and expert analytical services to government agencies, K-12 school districts, universities, healthcare organizations, nonprofits, and businesses, with a strong concentration in California. Core service lines are political redistricting (including Voting Rights Act compliance and preclearance submissions to the U.S. Department of Justice), expert witness testimony in California and Federal courts, school district enrollment forecasting using the cohort survival method, and custom GIS mapping and data visualization.

The firm's analytical engine combines GIS software for spatial analysis and attendance boundary realignment with the cohort survival method for enrollment forecasting, augmented by proprietary student yield studies and historical demographic trend analysis. Technology is mature rather than cutting-edge: the firm has supplied custom GIS mapping, charts, tables, and reports for more than 30 years, with no disclosed software product, SaaS platform, or AI/ML components. The competitive differentiation rests on the principals' PhD-level demography expertise, 30+ years of accumulated client-specific datasets, and a track record of court-recognized expert testimony in redistricting, housing discrimination, and desegregation matters.

Commercially, LGDR operates a project-based professional services model with quote-based, per-engagement pricing and no publicly disclosed rate card. Go-to-market relies on professional reputation, referrals, client testimonials, and published reports rather than paid marketing. The firm has maintained multi-decade relationships with anchor clients including Kaiser Permanente, U.S. DOJ, HUD, the City of Fremont, Monterey County, and 60+ California school districts. In 2024, LGDR merged with National Demographics Corporation (NDC), combining two highly respected demographic research firms under NDC's operation serving California and Arizona local governments and adding school enrollment analysis to NDC's service portfolio. The firm was bootstrapped and founder-owned throughout its independent history, with no institutional investors or venture capital involvement evidenced.

Name

Lapkoff & Gobalet Demographic

Legal name

Lapkoff & Gobalet Demographic Research, Inc.

Website

https://demographers.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Lapkoff & Gobalet Demographic Research is a private, founder-led demographic consulting firm providing political redistricting, expert witness testimony, school district enrollment forecasting, and custom GIS mapping to government agencies, school districts, universities, and healthcare organizations primarily in California, merged with NDC in 2024.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Demographic Research and Consulting

NAICS

Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (541720), Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Industry & Sector Research (Syndicated/Custom) (BPAHALAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Census, Demographic & Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) (HLAJAJAH), Research, Evaluation & Program Effectiveness Reporting (EDADAIAM)

Keywords

• Demographic research consulting
• School enrollment forecasting
• Political redistricting services
• Expert witness testimony
• GIS mapping services

Headquarters

HQ city

Saratoga

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Demographic Consulting Services: Custom demographic research and consulting services provided to government agencies, school districts, businesses, universities, nonprofits, and health care organizations. Services include political redistricting, expert witness testimony, school district analyses, and custom demographic research.
2. Expert Witness and Litigation Support: Expert testimony, consulting, and demographic support for legal cases including reports, depositions, and court testimony in California and Federal courts.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Lapkoff & Gobalet Demographic Research provides custom demographic research, political redistricting services, expert witness testimony, and school district analyses (including enrollment forecasting, attendance boundary realignment, and student yield studies) to government agencies, school districts, businesses, universities, nonprofits, and healthcare organizations. Deliverables include GIS-based maps, charts, tables, client reports, expert reports, depositions, and courtroom testimony in California and Federal courts.

Product overview

Lapkoff & Gobalet Demographic Research is a custom demographic research consulting firm that offers a unified portfolio of services centered on demographic analysis. The core offerings include Political Redistricting Services, Expert Witness Services, School District Analyses, and Custom Demographic Research with GIS Mapping. These services are provided as consulting engagements rather than as a software platform or product suite, delivering reports, forecasts, expert testimony, and visual data representations (maps, charts, tables) to government agencies, school districts, businesses, universities, nonprofits, and healthcare organizations throughout the United States.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Political Redistricting Services Develops, revises, and supplies documentation for election district plans that conform to legal standards, including California Voting Rights Act and federal Voting Rights Act compliance. Guides government clients through the districting process using GIS mapping to produce election district plans and supporting documentation.
• Expert Witness Services Provides expert testimony, consulting, and demographic support for legal cases including political redistricting, jury selection, housing discrimination, school desegregation, environmental justice, employment discrimination, and housing redevelopment. Deliverables include expert reports, depositions, and courtroom testimony in California and Federal courts.
• School District Analyses Delivers demographic analyses to school districts including enrollment forecasts using the cohort survival method, attendance boundary realignment via GIS geocoding of student home addresses, housing growth and student yield studies, and custom research supporting facilities planning, budget decisions, staffing, and bond measure preparation.
• Custom Demographic Research and GIS Mapping Services Provides customized demographic studies and litigation support including custom GIS mapping services, graphics, maps, charts, and tables that tell a story and help clients make decisions. Serves as the firm's catch-all research offering across housing growth analysis, births, migration, ethnicity, and other demographic variables for clients across government, education, healthcare, nonprofit, and business sectors.

Quantifiable outcome

• Enrollment projections accurate to within 1% for Los Altos School District
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• National Demographics Corporation (NDC)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024National Demographics Corporation (NDC) and Lapkoff & Gobalet Demographic Research, Inc. completed a merger in 2024, combining two highly respected sources of demographic research. The merger brings the LGDR team into NDC's industry-leading operation serving California and Arizona local governments, and adds analysis of school enrollment demographics to NDC's portfolio of services.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• National Demographics Corporation: Direct peer and merger partner since 2024; provides redistricting, demographic consulting, and election district services to California and Arizona local governments — virtually identical product offering to LGDR.
• Davis Demographics & Planning: Long-standing school district demography specialist providing enrollment projections, GIS boundary analysis, and demographic studies to K-12 districts — highly comparable to LGDR's School District Analyses service.
• Cooperative Strategies: Consulting firm providing demographic studies, enrollment forecasting, and facility planning support to K-12 school districts, overlapping directly with LGDR's core K-12 demographic forecasting work.
• MGT Consulting Group: Education-focused consulting firm offering demographic analyses, enrollment projections, and school district planning services — a comparable peer in K-12 demographic consulting.
• Geographic Research, Inc. Boutique demography firm offering redistricting and Census-based demographic research for jurisdictions — closely comparable to LGDR's political redistricting service line.
• RGP (Redistricting Partners): Specialized California redistricting and demographic services firm serving cities, counties, and school districts under the CVRA — directly comparable to LGDR's political redistricting practice.

Broad incumbents

• Albert A. Webb Associates: California-based planning and engineering consultancy that includes demographic analysis and redistricting services as part of a broader municipal planning portfolio — adjacent competitor with overlap on redistricting work.
• Claritas (Nielsen): Large syndicated consumer demographic and segmentation data provider; competes at the data layer with custom demographic research and is a broader incumbent in the demographic analytics space.

Others

• Esri: Dominant GIS software provider whose ArcGIS platform underlies much of LGDR's mapping and spatial analysis work — an enabling technology vendor rather than a competitor.
• U.S. Census Bureau: Source data provider for LGDR's Census-derived analyses and redistricting work; not a competitor but a foundational data supplier whose release cycles (every 10 years) drive LGDR's redistricting demand.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Lapkoff & Gobalet Demographic