What is Census Data?

The data shown on the following pages comes from the decennial censuses conducted by the U. S. Census Bureau, Department of Commerce in all years ending in zero. The decennial census information presents a snapshot of the population in the United States and is the only source for small area statistics (small cities and towns, townships, census tracts, and block groups or areas roughly equivalent to neighborhoods). Some of the areas are political jurisdictions (states, counties, cities and towns, and townships) and some are statistical areas defined by the U. S. Census Bureau (census tracts and block groups).

The information basically is collected by two methods:

• By a form sent to every household in the United States which asks basic information such as age, sex, race, relationship to the head of the household, and a few housing characteristics; this information is referred to as 100 percent count data.
• The detailed information pertaining to education, disability, veterans status, language spoken at home, income, poverty, labor force, employment, unemployment, and detailed housing characteristics is collected in a sample which roughly represents one in every six households in the country.

The U. S. Constitution provides for the decennial census for the purpose of reapportioning the 435 members of the House of Representatives between the states. The counts of the population by age, race, and sex, are also used by states for redistricting for state House and Senate districts and by local jurisdictions for redrawing city wards, county quorum court boundaries, school attendance zones, etc.

The detailed information on education, income, poverty, employment, etc. is used extensively

• by retail and service establishments to identify markets
• banks to determine locations for new branches
• local governments to plan for new water and sewer systems or local parks
• nonprofits to provide needed services
• school districts to identify locations for new schools.