U.S. Census

This posting discusses the challenges for the Census Bureau in counting same-sex couples, married and unmarried. The accuracy of data depends on responses in Census Bureau questionnaires and bureau procedures to collect and edit responses, and the posting describes both.

A workshop that brought together Census Bureau staff and expert users to discuss the bureau's American Community Survey produced the finding that the survey's greatest asset is its local-level data, but that users are concerned about the large margins of error associated with those small-area estimates. Users and Census Bureau staff also discussed possible changes to the survey and bureau outreach to users.

Some users of Census data may be surprised to learn what the 2010 Census did not ask, because many detailed items about demographics, economics and housing now are included in the American Community Survey. This posting includes a link to an article by sociologist Andrew Beveridge about the differences between Census 2010 and the ACS, as well as links to questionnaire forms.

New York City filed its official challenge to 2010 Census results today, stating that the count missed at least 50,000 people, in large part because occupied units were erroneously termed vacant.

A new Population Reference Bureau report summarizes key findings from the first wave of Census 2010 data, including trends in the population of children, as well as race and ethnic groups. The Brookings Institution recently published reports using 2010 Census data to discuss aging and race and ethnic change.

A growing number of organizations (including the Census Bureau) are producing census-based interactive maps that allow users to choose the level of geography, topic or time period they want to display. This All Things Census posting includes links to maps using data from the 2010 Census, as well as earlier census data.

This All Things Census posting announces a new Pew Research Center report using census data to explore the economics of cohabitation, which uses census data to compare the financial well-being of adults who are married, living with an unmarried opposite-sex partner, or not living with such a partner or spouse. The Census Bureau is releasing detailed local-level counts of unmarried couples over the summer.

The ongoing release of so-called SF1 data from the 2010 Census--detailed local-level tabulations about age, families, housing and other topics--has produced a wave of news stories about the changing family. Stories from newspapers in California and Pennsylvania focus especially on same-sex couples.

New data from the 2010 Census was released today by the Census Bureau, filling in details about age, household type, homeownership and more.

As numbers continue to pour out of the 2010 Census, the National Research Council recently made a number of recommendations about how to improve the next national count, in 2020.