How Census Race Categories Have Changed Over Time
The race, ethnicity and origin categories used in the U.S. decennial census have shifted over time often in a reflection of current politics, science and public attitudes. Our interactive tracks the category names from 1790 to 2010.
Census Bureau decides to keep marriage questions on survey
Under pressure from academics and advocates, the U.S. Census Bureau has abandoned plans to delete a series of questions about marriage and divorce from its largest household survey.
National Academies: Census survey data should be more user-friendly
The bureau should be paying more attention to the needs and opinions of the people and organizations that use its data, according to a recent report.
Census Bureau proposes dropping some marriage and divorce questions
The U.S. Census Bureau has proposed dropping a series of questions about marriage and divorce from its largest household survey of Americans, touching off a debate about the usefulness of such data.
For first time, census data on married couples includes same-sex spouses
Census Bureau officials and other experts do not expect counting same-sex spouses along with all other married couples to make a big impact on overall statistics for married couples. But if the number of same-sex married couples continues to rise, that could change.
Census says it will count same-sex marriages, but with caveats
The new approach reflects the bureau's evolving policy on reporting household relationships, as it tries to keep pace with social change.
Census struggles to reach an accurate number on gay marriages
Same-sex marriage is now legal in Washington, D.C., and 17 states (and Arkansas will join them, if a lower-court judge’s ruling last week is upheld). Now the federal government’s task is to produce an accurate count of same-sex married couples.
Millions of Americans changed their racial or ethnic identity from one census to the next
Americans of mixed race, American Indians, Pacific Islanders and Hispanics were among those most likely to check different boxes.
Census Bureau Considers Whether to Delete Some Questions
This links to a FactTank posting about the Census Bureau's review of questions on the American Community Survey. The agency may drop questions if it determines they do not yield useful, quality data that cannot be found elsewhere.
Census may change some questions after pushback from public
The U.S. Census Bureau is considering whether to drop some questions that it has used for decades and have been the source of complaints from the public who see them as intrusive or overly burdensome.
