Issued May 2000 actfinder CFF-4 for the Nation History and Organization

Introduction The First U.S. Census—1790 complex. This meant that there had to be statistics to help people understand Factfinding is one of America’s oldest Shortly after George Washington what was happening and have a basis activities. In the early 1600s, a census became President, the first census was for planning. The content of the was taken in Virginia, and people were taken. It listed the head of household, decennial census changed accordingly. counted in nearly all of the British and counted (1) the number of free For example, the first inquiry on colonies that became the United States White males age 16 and over, and under manufactures was made in 1810; it at the time of the Revolutionary War. 16 (to measure how many men might concerned the quantity and value of (There also were censuses in other areas be available for military service), (2) the products. Questions on agriculture, of the country before they became number of free White females, all other mining, and fisheries were added in parts of the United States.) free persons (including any Indians who 1840; and in 1850, the census included paid taxes), and (3) how many slaves inquiries on social issues—taxation, Following independence, there was an there were. Compared with modern churches, pauperism, and crime. (Later almost immediate need for a census of censuses, this was a crude operation. in this booklet, we explore the inclusion the entire Nation. Both the number of The law required that the returns be of additional subjects and the seats each state was to have in the U.S. made in a specified form, but the establishment of separate censuses.) House of Representatives, and the enumerators (U.S. marshals and their states’ respective shares in paying for assistants) had to furnish their own The censuses also spread the war were to be based on population. paper, using all sorts of books and geographically, to new states and Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. sheets to record the information. It territories added to the Union as well as to other areas under U.S. sovereignty Constitution, adopted in 1787, provided: took 18 months to complete the census.1 or jurisdiction.3 Representatives and direct Taxes After the returns were completed, the There were so many more inquiries of shall be apportioned among the enumerator was required to post them all kinds in the censuses of 1880 and several States which may be “at two of the most public places...to 1890 that almost a full decade was included within this Union, remain for the inspection of all needed to publish all the results. according to their respective concerned.” By contrast, modern-day Although the census furnished large Numbers.... The actual censuses maintain strict confidentiality quantities of statistics, it was failing to Enumeration shall be made within of the information collected about provide information when it was most three Years after the first Meeting individual persons or business firms. needed. Accordingly, Congress limited of the Congress of the United the 1900 census to questions on States, and within every The 1790 census counted 3.9 million population, manufactures, agriculture, subsequent Term of ten Years, in inhabitants—a number which some and mortality. Many of the dropped such Manner as they shall by people thought low—and raised topics reappeared in later censuses as membership in the U.S. House of Law direct. advances in technology made it possible Representatives from an original to process and publish the data faster. 2 Our Founding Fathers had concluded 65 to 105. (See p. 11). that the states’ wishes to report few people in order to lower their shares in The Expanding Censuses... the war debt would be offset by a Down through the years, the Nation’s desire for the largest possible needs and interests became more representation in Congress. Thus, the 3The first Federal enumerations occurred in census would be fairly accurate. 1Eighteen months elapsed between the time Puerto Rico in 1910; the Virgin Islands of the Congress passed the Census Act on March 1, United States, 1917; Guam and American 1790, and September 1, 1791, when the data Samoa, 1920; the Panama Canal Zone, 1920 were provided to President Washington. (last in 1970); the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, 1970; and, separately, the Northern 2In 1796, Tennessee was given an additional Mariana Islands in 1980. There also were seat in the U.S. House of Representatives after one-time U.S. censuses in the Philippine Islands apportionment had taken place. in 1903 and in Cuba in 1907.

U.S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration U.S. CENSUS BUREAU The Census Bureau began using quickly out of date, the Census Bureau Congress authorized the President to statistical sampling techniques in the began its American Community Survey set up a permanent Census Office in the 1940s in order to gather data on most of (ACS) program in 1996, with full Interior Department. In 1903, the the subjects the various censuses needed implementation scheduled for 2003. agency was transferred to the new to cover without unduly burdening the The ACS is a way to provide the data Department of Commerce and Labor. respondents. Further assistance came communities need every year instead of When that Department was split in through the use of electronic computers once in 10 years. It is an ongoing 1913, the U.S. Census Bureau was in the 1950s and mail enumeration in survey that the Census Bureau plans placed in the Department of Commerce. the 1960s. All of these made it possible will replace the long form in the 2010 During World War II, in 1942, Census to publish more data sooner and at a census. Bureau headquarters was moved from lower cost, and with less burden on the downtown Washington, DC, to a nearby Full implementation in 2003 (3 million public that had to provide the suburb, Suitland, MD. information. households) includes every county of the United States. The ACS will provide ... and Its Present Organization ... and Surveys estimates of demographic, housing, social, and economic characteristics The Census Bureau is headed by a As the Nation grew, changes in the every year for all states, as well as for Director, nominated by the President economy became more frequent and all cities, counties, metropolitan areas, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and is far-reaching. Since government officials and population groups of 65,000 or assisted by a Deputy Director and an and businesses had to adjust their plans more. For smaller areas, it will take 2- Executive Staff composed of Principal as these changes occurred, they needed to-5 years to accumulate sufficient Associate Directors, Associate more frequent reports on them. sample to produce data for areas as Directors, and Assistant Directors, small as census tracts. For example, respectively. The Executive Staff An effective way to provide current areas of 20,000 to 30,000 can use data oversees specific divisions, offices, and statistics is to collect data from averaged over 3 years. For rural areas staffs that have to do with samples of people and businesses, such and city neighborhoods or population administration, planning, and subject as every 20th household or every 100th groups of less than 15,000 people, it matter; data collection, processing, and firm. Using experts in sampling and will take 5 years to accumulate a publication; and consultation within the survey techniques to plan the surveys, sample that is similar to that of the Census Bureau, with other Federal, an efficient field organization to collect decennial census. These averages can state, and local agencies, with the data, and modern technology to be updated every year, so that interested organizations in the academic process the results, the Census Bureau eventually, we will be able to measure and private sectors, and with statistical can publish some reports less than 2 changes over time for small areas and establishments in foreign countries. weeks after a nationwide collection of population groups. the data. It produces monthly, The Census Bureau has 12 regional offices Atlanta, GA; Boston, MA; quarterly, and annual reports on How the Census Bureau Came population, housing, manufactures, Charlotte, NC; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; Into Being... business, constructions, and Denver, CO; Detroit, MI; Kansas City, governments, virtually all limited to the U.S. marshals supervised their KS; Los Angeles, CA; New York, NY; 50 states and the District of Columbia, assistants’ enumeration of the first nine Philadelphia, PA; and Seattle, WA—and and with most of the data published at censuses and reported to the President processing and support facilities in the national level only. Many of these (1790), the Secretary of State (1800- Jeffersonville, IN. The regional offices surveys are integrated with their 1840), or the Secretary of the Interior deal principally with data collection and respective censuses, so that they have (1850-1870). Census Bureau work, assistance to data users. Additional parallel concepts and classifications, however, was only a small part of their processing centers are set up and the census and survey results can regular duties, and they could not give temporarily for the decennial censuses. be used in tandem to fulfill data users’ it adequate time and attention. For the needs. 1880 census, Congress established a The Census Bureau Works for census office in the U.S. Department of the Government... Since 1941, the Census Bureau has had the Interior, with decennial census responsibility for compiling current If another Federal, state, or local supervisors to be appointed by the statistics on foreign trade, and it government agency needs data not President and confirmed by the Senate. publishes reports on exports, imports, already provided by the Census Bureau, Each supervisor was to select, solely for and shipping. but doesn’t have the facilities for their job fitness, the enumerators, who collecting or tabulating them, it may were forbidden to disclose any of the Censuses and surveys are described in contract with the Census Bureau to do information they collected. These greater detail under the subject this work. The other agency then can changes improved public relations and headings; the resultant reports are listed concentrate its efforts on analyzing the speeded the collection process. in separate FactFinder brochures (see p. resultant data according to its own Nevertheless, the census organization 13) carrying the same headings. program needs. Both agencies gain still had to begin anew every 10 years; a from this specialization. Random The American Community Survey large staff had to be recruited from examples of such work at the Federal “scratch,” learn its duties, and then be level are the American Housing Survey In response to the common complaints disbanded as soon as the results were that sample data from the decennial for the Department of Housing and announced. There was no continuity Urban Development, the National Crime censuses are published too late and from one census to the next. In 1902,

2 CFF-4 U.S. Census Bureau Survey for the Department of Justice, other Census Bureau employee—is government plans, grants-in-aid, and the Health Interview Survey for the permitted to reveal identifiable information revenue-sharing programs have been Department of Health and Human about any person, household, or business. based by law on factors calculated from Services, and the Consumer Expenditure census statistics for population, per Surveys for the Department of Labor. In current censuses, once the information, capita income, geographic distribution, with individuals’ names and addresses and other items. Likewise, census data ... and the Government Works dropped, has been transferred to of all types—population, housing, and machine readable form and processed for the Census all of the economic subjects, including through the computer to produce transportation—are crucial for market To avoid duplication of effort and statistical tables, the original question- analysis, for planning new services and expense on the government’s part, as naires can be destroyed and the waste facilities, for affirmative action well as by individuals and companies recycled. programs, for studying environmental who must respond, the Census Bureau impact, and for basic research in many makes extensive use of other Federal Finally, before any census tabulation is academic fields. Thus, it is even more agencies’ administrative records in published, it is carefully checked to important now than it was in 1790 that compiling statistical data. In the make certain that no individual, every person and business establish- economic censuses, for example, this household, or organization can be ment be counted and that the virtually eliminates the need to collect identified, or information about it information about each be accurate and data from approximately 2.5 million inferred by reading the table or by complete. small establishments and 15 million analyzing the figures it contains. nonemployer establishments and the In the case of the population and Population need for them to fill out additional housing census, the questionnaires are census reports. Once in the Census microfilmed before destruction, and the Censuses, 1790 to the Present Bureau’s possession, these other microfilm is stored under strict security agencies’ records are protected by the From 1790 through 1840, the conditions for use in the Census population censuses listed the names of same confidentiality provisions of the Bureau’s National Processing Center at census law as the Census Bureau’s own household heads only and tallied the Jeffersonville, IN. Here, people who number of people in each family questionnaires. need proof of age or residence (for according to their age, sex, race, and example), or their heirs or legal (later) employment, and the number of The Law States What the Census representatives, may obtain this Bureau Shall Collect slaves held. Beginning in 1850, all free evidence in the form of an official persons were listed by name with their For many years, each census had to be transcript. characteristics, which then included authorized by a specific act of Congress. Copies of population census schedules occupation, place of birth (state or In 1954, that body brought together in from 1790 through 1920, usually on country) and school enrollment. (See Title 13 of the United States Code the microfilm, are available for appropriate “Content” p. 4). laws under which the Census Bureau research at the National Archives and at operates. This title spells out the basic The development of sampling libraries in various parts of the country, techniques early in the 20th century scope of the censuses and surveys, the but subsequent records are closed to requirements for the public to provide made it possible, beginning with the the public for 72 years to protect the 1940 census, to ask some of the census information as well as for the Census confidentiality of the information they Bureau to keep that information questions of 5 percent of the population contain. (The Freedom of Information to yield reliable estimates for most of confidential, and the penalties for Act, designed to make records available violating any of these obligations. the 1940 census areas. Thereafter, the to individuals, does not apply to proportion of the households included in The Secretary of Commerce (and identifiable data the Census Bureau the sample varied from one census to through him/her, the Census Bureau) is collects for statistical purposes.) the next. Nationwide, for Census 2000, now directed by law to take censuses the sample questions were asked at How Important Are of population, housing, manufactures, every sixth household. In places with Census Statistics? mineral industries, other businesses less than 2,500 inhabitants, every (wholesale trade, retail trade, services), Ever since 1790, the population census second household was sampled, while construction, transportation, and statistics have been the official figures more heavily populated areas were governments at stated intervals, and it used every 10 years to compute the sampled at either a 1-in-6 or a 1-in-8 also may take surveys related to any of number of congressional represen- rate. these subjects. tatives allowed each state, and also in Experiments in self-enumeration led to conformity with the Supreme Court’s its successful use in the 1960 census, Reports Are Confidential 1965 one-man-one-vote ruling, to align when householders in urban areas were congressional district boundaries so The sole purpose of the censuses and asked to complete and mail back that each member of Congress surveys is to secure general statistical questionnaires containing the sample represents approximately the same information. Replies are obtained from items. individuals and establishments only to number of people. For the same enable the compilation of such general reason, the census figures are used in For Census 2000, approximately 95— statistics. The confidentiality of these redistricting state legislatures and other percent of the households received and replies is very important. By law, no local governing bodies. In recent years, were asked to return—questionnaires in one—neither the census takers nor any many Federal, state, and local the mail. For households that received

U.S. Census Bureau CFF-4 3 a questionnaire in the mail, enumerators • Number of children ever born, 1890- identifying their racial group. With the telephoned or visited only in those 1910, 1940-1990 Office of Management and Budget’s cases where the questionnaires were • Language (or whether the person (OMB) decision in July 1998 to revise its not returned, the data were incomplete, could speak English), 1890-1940, standards for the classification of or where information was needed for 1960-present Federal data on race and ethnicity people living in institutions, dormitories, • Language of parents, 1910-1920 (according to Directive 15), however, or other such quarters. There also were the Census 2000 questionnaire allowed • Spanish/Hispanic origin or descent, special procedures for enumerating the the respondent to mark one or more 1970-present homeless, people on maritime vessels, races depending on what that person and members of the Armed Forces. In a In the 20th century, interest focused as considered himself/herself to be. few remote or sparsely populated areas, well on people’s economic enumerators visited each housing unit characteristics—their jobs and how they Special Censuses ... and completed a short-form or long- traveled to work, their income, and how Since 1915, the Census Bureau has form census questionnaire. well they were housed. Most of these questions are asked on a sample basis. conducted an increasing number of Self-enumeration by mail has several special enumerations for local advantages; for example, it allows Race and Ethnic Origin governments at their request and householders to report directly to the expense, to measure demographic Census Bureau rather than through a The concept of color or race in the changes that affect such things as the face-to-face interview with an censuses has never denoted any allocation of money from Federal and enumerator (who might have to call scientific definition of biological stock. state agencies, especially where there is several times to find a respondent at “White” and “Black” persons have been considerable population growth home), and it permits the agency to identified in every decennial census between censuses. concentrate its resources in those areas since 1790. American Indians were first where the greatest effort is needed to enumerated as a separate group in the ... and Current Surveys complete the census. 1870 census; however, until 1890, those in the Indian Territory or on Sampling techniques developed for the censuses led to the use of demographic Content reservations were not included in the official U.S. population count used for surveys in the 1940s. The resultant The principal topics listed below will congressional apportionment. Data statistics would be representative of the indicate how the range of the population have been collected on the Chinese Nation as a whole, or in some cases of censuses grew during the past 2 population since the 1870 census, and regions, states, or smaller areas, centuries. on the Japanese beginning in 1890. depending on the size of the sample. The two principal surveys in which • Age and sex, 1790-present (but Until recently, the census taker only for free Whites until 1820) population data are gathered are the determined a person’s color or race Current Population Survey (CPS), first • Slave status, 1790-1860 according to the Census Bureau’s begun in 1942, and the American • Color or race, 1790-present (see guidelines. Beginning with the 1960 Community Survey (ACS) begun in section below) census, however, respondents who 1996. At that time, the ACS covered • Citizenship, 1820-1830, 1870, completed their own census about 7,400 households per month, 1890-present questionnaires were able to classify which equaled about 88,000 households • Physical or mental handicap, themselves and other household per year. The CPS now covers 1830-1930, 1970-present members. Census 2000 made provision approximately 60,000 households • Education or literacy, 1840 present for each person’s race to be marked as across the United States that are • Marital status, 1880-present White, Black, African American, or interviewed monthly to obtain labor- • Occupation, 1850-present Negro, American Indian or Alaska force statistics for the U.S. Department Native, Asian Indian, Japanese, Chinese, • Industry, 1820, 1840, 1910-present of Labor and current data on a variety Filipino, Hawaiian, Korean, Vietnamese, of subjects for the Census Bureau and • Employment status, 1880-present Guamanian or Chamorro, Samoan, or to other agencies. Beginning in November (except 1920) be written in if none of these applied. 2002, the ACS will cover approximately • Crime, 1850-1910 In addition, American Indians were 250,000 households per month and 3 • Mortality, 1850-1890 asked to report their tribe. The Hispanic million households annually. At that • Place of birth, 1850-present population, which the Census Bureau time, data will be provided down to the • Wage rates, 1850-1890 recognizes as an ethnic group, now is block group level. Other surveys • Income, 1940-present identified primarily by a question on include such topics as household • Pauperism, 1850-1860, 1880-1890, Hispanic origin or descent (Mexican, income and participation in government 1910 Mexican American, or Chicano, Puerto programs, consumer buying, health, Rican, Cuban, or other Spanish/ crime, and education. (Many surveys • Prisoners, 1880-1910 Hispanic/Latino), although other are done on a reimbursable basis for • Institutionalized persons, 1880- measurements are also available in other government agencies and under 1890, 1910 terms of language spoken at home. their authority.) • Year of immigration, 1890-1930, 1970-present Prior to Census 2000, respondents were In addition to conducting demographic asked to select only one category when surveys, the Census Bureau produces

4 CFF-4 U.S. Census Bureau population estimates and projections. not been counted as housing units, housing market, the Census Bureau The current total population is although their residents are included in began publishing relevant annual and estimated monthly for the United States the population census. quarterly data in 1969. and annually for the states; the national population is estimated annually by age, Below are some examples of the subject American Housing Survey. Formerly items covered in past censuses. A 100- called the Annual Housing Survey, this sex, and race. Since 1959, the Federal- State Cooperative Program for percent question is asked for all housing activity dates from 1975 and consists units, and a sample item only at of two different sample surveys. One Population Estimates has been carried out as a joint effort of the Census designated units. is conducted nationally every other year; the other, for rotating groups of Bureau, the states, and Puerto Rico. The 100-percent (short-form participants follow the Census Bureau’s selected metropolitan areas, is annual. questionnaire) These surveys cover a number of methodology to prepare annual Tenure (owned or rented) population estimates for counties and population, housing, and financial characteristics, including some data on metropolitan areas. More recently, Sample (long-form these figures have been supplemented questionnaire) the condition of the units and of the neighborhoods in which they are by occasional estimates of population Complete plumbing facilities and per capita income for counties, Tenure (owned or rented) located. Value or contract rent incorporated places, and other Agriculture governmental units. Projections of Vacancy status and months vacant future population are made periodically Components of gross rent Heating equipment Transfer to the United States for the Nation and the various states. Department of Agriculture The Census Bureau also analyzes major Year structure built demographic and socioeconomic Number of rooms Responsibility for the census of developments both in this country and Source of water agriculture was transferred from the abroad. Sewage disposal Census Bureau to the United States Bedrooms and bathrooms Department of Agriculture (USDA), Housing Air conditioning National Agricultural Statistics Service Automobiles, vans, and trucks (NASS) in 1995. The 1992 Census of Censuses, 1940 to the Present... Elevator Agriculture was the last agriculture Fuels census conducted by the Census In the 1850 and 1860 Censuses of Shelter costs for homeowners Population, the number of slave houses Bureau, with NASS being responsible for the 1997 and future censuses of was asked, and enumerators inquired ... and Surveys, 1956-Present about housing on Indian reservations in agriculture. The high priority placed on 1880. There were no general questions As World War II drew to a close in 1945, the census by the USDA assures the on housing in the censuses until 1890. the Census Bureau began conducting a continuation of the census of From 1890 to 1920, interest in housing number of intercensal surveys of the agriculture and that adequate resources data was concentrated principally on Nation’s housing, most of them were available to conduct a 1997 whether or not residences were on concentrating on physical census comparable to the 1992 census. farms, whether they were occupied or characteristics in selected local areas. A Planning, collection, and release of vacant, and, if owned, whether they national housing survey, taken in 1956, census results will be more efficient by were mortgaged. There have been was the first of its kind to deal with consolidating the experience and detailed decennial censuses of housing components of change in the housing resources of NASS and the Census from 1940 on. inventory and to provide intercensal Bureau. The consolidation will reduce data on the financing of residential response burden. Previously NASS and The housing censuses are taken in properties. Similar surveys were parts conjunction with, and in the same the Census Bureau were required to of the 1960, 1970, 1980, 1999, and the maintain separate lists of farms and manner as, the population censuses. Census 2000 decennial programs. (See p. 10.) The housing censuses ranches. Now, with the census Other Census Bureau surveys in the responsibility, NASS can develop one cover only those residences that meet housing area include the following: the definition of a “housing unit.” In master list that can be used both for the general, a housing unit is a group of Housing Vacancy Survey. Since 1955, census and ongoing sample surveys. rooms or a single room occupied or (if quarterly and annual reports have been Censuses, 1840-1992 vacant) intended for occupancy as issued that contain data on selected separate living quarters; that is, the characteristics of vacant units (for Agriculture censuses were conducted by occupants do not live and eat with any rent, for sale, rented or sold but not the Census Bureau and its predecessors other persons in the building, and there yet occupied, etc.), with comparative from 1840 through 1992. Although the is direct access from the outside or vacancy rates for previous periods. 1820 population census counted the through a common hall. A mobile home Market Absorption of Apartments. number of people engaged in farming, also can be a housing unit. Transient Because of interest in the extent to little was done about collecting data on accommodations, barracks for workers which apartments in recently agriculture itself until 1840. That first or members of the Armed Forces, and completed, privately financed census was very limited; it had institutional-type quarters (dormitories, structures are absorbed into the questions about numbers of livestock, wards, large rooming houses, etc.) have

U.S. Census Bureau CFF-4 5 grain, and other crops such as cotton ... and Surveys programs, on the basis of the 1945 and sugar, gardens and nurseries, and Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) forest products including skins and Through the years, the Census Bureau Manual.4 furs. The number of farms and their also conducted special surveys dealing acreage were first collected in 1850. with agriculture. The principal of these The SIC system classified is the Cotton Survey, which has been establishments by the type of activities Facts about farms and the country’s taken every year since 1902 to cover in which they were engaged. It made it food and fiber production were essential each ginning season by state, and since easier to collect, tabulate, present, and as the U.S. frontier moved westward, 1913, to cover each ginning season by analyze data relating to establishments new lands were opened to settlement, county; to report monthly activities or engaged in all types of economic and foreign trade grew. After 1830, as conditions from August through activity. The SIC also promoted American agriculture became more February; to detail production by crop uniformity and comparability in the varied and complex, the censuses of year; and to provide cotton statistics presentation of statistics by various agriculture that were taken every 10 for agriculture, foreign trade, and Federal and state agencies, trade years did too. Technological changes, industry programs. associations, and private research such as irrigation, pest control, the use organizations. of chemical fertilizers, and mechanized Economic Statistics and custom farming, became even more In some instances, more detailed classifications were derived for census rapid in the 20th century, so that The Unit of Enumeration conditions had to be measured more purposes, so that additional industries, From the beginning, data for the Census kinds of business, or specific products often. Since 1920, there has been an Bureau’s economic programs have been agriculture census every 5 years that could be identified within the SIC collected and summarized for categories. collected information on tractors and publication primarily in terms of the other important farm machines, farm establishment. An establishment, as On April 9, 1997, responding to facilities (such as electricity and defined for census and survey increasing and serious criticism about telephones), land use and ownership, purposes, is a business or industrial unit the SIC and the need for a common value of products sold, and the at a single geographic location that North American Industry Classification characteristics of people on farms, and produces or distributes goods, or System (NAICS) for Canada, Mexico, and data about various kinds of expenses. performs services. the United States, the Office of Beginning in 1900, the agriculture Management and Budget (OMB) censuses were extended to U.S. When more than one economic activity announced its decision to adopt the territories, although some were taken is conducted at a single location, each NAICS. In early 1999, the publication of only at the time of the population and activity under separate ownership is 1997 Economic Census data based on housing censuses in the years ending regarded as a separate establishment. the NAICS provided the first glimpse of in “0.” Furthermore, if the same ownership has data based on the new system. The substantially different kinds of activity Ten-year censuses of irrigation were system was developed by the Economic at a single location, each activity of Classification Policy Committee (ECPC), added in 1910 and of drainage in 1920. significant size and with its own There were special censuses of on behalf of the OMB, in cooperation records is treated as a separate with Statistics Canada and Mexico’s horticultural specialty production for establishment. 1890 and 1930, and on a 10-year basis Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática (INEGI) to beginning with 1950. The drainage In the economic censuses, information census was abolished after 1978. is obtained for each establishment provide comparable statistics across the three countries. Information about agricultural operated by a company (an organization services—custom plowing, crop consisting of one or more commonly The NAICS is a unique, all-new system dusting, veterinary services, etc.— was owned or controlled establishments) for classifying business establishments. collected for 1969 through 1978. whose primary activity falls within the It is the first economic classification scope of the censuses. The reporting system to be constructed based on a In the 1950s, the agriculture censuses units for the current surveys vary, but were moved to the years ending in “4” single economic concept. Economic generally are designed to link the survey units that use like processes to produce and “9.” A 1976 change in the law information with the censuses. The required the census of agriculture to be goods or services are grouped together. term firm is used interchangeably with The NAICS reflects the structure of taken for 1978, 1982, and every 5 years company. thereafter, providing data for the same today’s economy in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, including the years as the economic censuses. Thus, The Classification System census data became available for the emergence and growth of the service same time period as the Nation’s food Beginning with the 1947 Census of and fiber system, including agricultural Manufactures, the Census Bureau began production (agriculture), food tabulating data from the economic 4The SIC system was a significant innovation for processing (manufactures), and censuses and surveys (except for some the 1947 Census of Manufactures and subse- quent economic censuses until the development distribution (wholesale and retail trade). transportation and construction of the NAICS system. Prior to 1947, the Census Similar relationships became possible surveys), and later from some parts of Bureau had developed its own classifications for farm supplies and equipment. the agriculture and foreign trade after consultation with specialists in the Federal Government and the private sector.

6 CFF-4 U.S. Census Bureau sector and new and advanced leaders, and other experts were faced American Industry Classification System technologies. It is a flexible system with an urgent need for more current (NAICS) Manual for the 1997 census. that allows each country to recognize data on the economy. Congress, Data were collected in two different important industries below the level at therefore, directed that quinquennial ways: The questionnaire mailout/ which comparable data will be shown censuses of manufacturing be taken mailback method was used for for all three countries. beginning with 1905. From 1919 multiestablishment companies and large through 1939, however, the census of and medium single-establishment Manufactures and manufactures took place every 2 years. companies. Data for most single- Mineral Industries The extent of the procedures, coverage, establishment small employers were and publication programs for the extracted from Federal administrative Censuses, 1810 to the Present biennial censuses fluctuated according records. As noted earlier, the 1790 and 1800 to the economic conditions of the period. ... and Surveys censuses were restricted to a count of the population. There was little During World War II, the periodic Even quinquennial manufactures and consideration given to collecting economic censuses were discontinued minerals censuses could not keep pace economic statistics because agriculture in favor of war-related current surveys, with the rapid changes that are created was by far the most important so that the next census of by new processes, new materials, and occupation of the American people. By manufactures was for 1947. Because of the shifting demands for goods. 1810, however, the fragile beginnings of a lack of funding, there was no census Accordingly, a survey program was industrialization had begun; therefore, of manufactures and mineral industries begun in 1906, and the results were in an act passed on May 1, 1810, the in 1954. However, a census was taken published in a series of Current Congress directed the Federal marshals in 1955 for the year 1954. In that Industrial Reports (CIRs; prior to 1960, and their assistants responsible for operation, the program became known the CIRs were titled Facts for Industry). conducting the 1810 Census of as the economic censuses, and, as Another integral part of the Population to take “an account of the such, was the first integrated economic manufacturing statistics program is the several manufacturing establishments statistical program in which data for Annual Survey of Manufactures that, and manufactures within their several retail trade, wholesale trade, since 1949, occurs in every year in divisions.” manufacturing establishments, and which a census is not taken (during construction, mineral, and selected census years it is part of the census). The first census of manufactures was All of these surveys are carried out by very limited; it collected information for service industries were collected for the same benchmark years. mail. Some examples of data collected 25 broad categories, encompassing in the Annual Survey of Manufactures more than 220 kinds of goods. The The first manufacturing census for an are the number of employees, 1840 Census of Population included a outlying area was conducted in Puerto production workers’ hours, and value of census of manufactures and also a Rico for the year 1909. Thereafter, shipments. The CIRs generally present series of questions about mining and excepting 1929, a census was taken at data on commodity products, fisheries to measure the extent of 10-year intervals through 1949. shipments, consumption, and/or commercial activities. Thereafter, these Censuses of manufactures also were inventories. were enumerated at approximately 10- taken concurrently with the census of year intervals as part of the censuses of business for the years 1954, 1958, Business population up to and including the year 1963, and since 1967, at 5-year 1900 for manufactures and 1940 for intervals as part of the regular economic Censuses, 1929-Present... mineral industries. (In addition, the censuses program. These censuses 1933 census included retail trade, began in Guam and the Virgin Islands of Census coverage of the distributive wholesale trade, and a new category, the United States in 1958, and in the trades and services encompasses three “services, amusements, and hotels.” Northern Mariana Islands in 1982. A separate censuses—retail trade, For 1935, the 1933 category, “services, census of mineral industries has never wholesale trade, and service industries. amusements, and hotels” was renamed been taken in any of the outlying areas. These sometimes are called the service establishments, which included business censuses. In the 1990s, the manufactures and hotels, personal and business services, Although limited data were collected in automotive repair, amusements, and minerals censuses collected major data items, such as the number of plants or the 1840 Census of Population to dental laboratories). Minerals data were measure business enterprise in various collected as part of the 1935 Census of factories and workers, payroll, cost of categories, there are virtually no Wholesale Trade. materials, capital expenditures, and value of shipments or production. statistics on business until the first At the beginning of the 20th century, censuses of retail trade and wholesale the United States found itself the These censuses cover all establishments trade conducted in 1930 (covering the world’s leading industrial Nation with an primarily engaged in manufacturing and year 1929). The census of retail trade economy characterized by the mining (the extraction of minerals in the covered operations of “all increasing dominance of manufacturing. questionnaire covering solids, liquids, establishments doing business in a retail As a result of this development, Federal and gases) as defined in the Standard manner,” including some service Government decisionmakers, members Industrial Classification (SIC) Manual for businesses such as garages. As noted of the academic community, business the 1992 census and the North above, the census of selected service

U.S. Census Bureau CFF-4 7 industries, which began in 1933, Construction work done on all types of construction. included hotels, personal and business Statistics are published monthly on such services, automotive repair, Censuses of Construction topics as building permits, housing amusements, and dental laboratories. Industries, 1929 to the Present starts and completions, new houses sold, and the value of new construction The 1935 censuses were more Certain data on building activity, put in place. In addition, there are comprehensive and were an effort to compiled from historical files of permits quarterly and/or annual series on provide the “first factual appraisal ever and from surveys by private firms and expenditures for residential upkeep and available on the effects of a serious other Federal agencies, are available for improvements, housing characteristics, business depression.” These censuses years as early as 1868, and the new mobile-home placements, and a were taken again for 1939 (as part of development of construction industries price index of new houses sold. the 1940 Censuses of Population and in this country can be inferred from Housing5, and included business in these. In 1930, however, the U.S. Transportation Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico for the Census Bureau began collecting data on first time) and 1948. Since 1955, the the entire range of these industries and The first available statistics from the scope of the economic censuses has publishing statistics as part of the Census Bureau on rail and water been successively enlarged. These business census reports for 1929, 1935, transportation date from the 1880 and censuses began in Guam and the Virgin and 1939. Data for construction 1890 Census of Population. There were Islands of the United States for 1958, establishments were not collected again special censuses of water transportation and in the Northern Marianas for 1982. until the 1967 Economic Censuses6, of in 1906, 1916, and 1926, plus one on which the census of construction the express business in 1907. Some The censuses of retail trade, wholesale industries became an integral part, and transportation data were included in the trade, and service industries in the the pattern of enumeration every 5 monthly Survey of Current Business in 1980s collected basic data, such as the years was resumed. the 1920s and early 1930s. number of establishments, sales or receipts, employment, and payroll, plus The 1997 Economic Census included 45 The inadequacy of transportation data specialized information about specific construction industries and industry and the need for appropriate action by kinds of businesses. As in the censuses groups—general building, heavy the Federal Government to overcome of manufactures and mineral industries, construction, and special trade these deficiencies were recognized in a retail trade, wholesale trade, and service contractors (subcontractors); law Congress passed in 1948 industries’ statistics are published subdividers and developers; and authorizing a census of transportation primarily in terms of the establishment, operative or merchant builders. There in 1949, but funds were not and are collected both by mail and the were about 2.6 million construction appropriated except for preparatory use of administrative records. establishments in the country. Around work in the early 1950s. A National 830,000 of them have paid employees, Travel Survey, which the travel industry ... and Current Surveys and most of these establishments sponsored, was conducted in 1957 as a receive census questionnaires by mail. pilot project, but the first census As with other censuses, those dealing The results are published by state and (actually several different surveys, as with the Nation’s economic activities large metropolitan area for major items described below) did not take place until cannot always keep pace with rapid such as receipts (or value of 1963. changes in technology and marketing. construction work done), employment Because of the shifts in business The 1963 Census of Transportation was and payroll, selected operating conditions, Federal Government and a pioneering effort with respect to the expenses, assets, and inventories. private sector economists need prompt economic areas covered as well as the Receipts are further broken down by and reliable information. Accordingly, survey techniques used. The primary specific kind of business and type of since the early 1950s, the Census objective was to close—or at least construction (commercial, industrial, Bureau has conducted monthly and narrow—major gaps in statistical etc.). Limited data, based on annual surveys of retail and wholesale knowledge without duplicating data administrative records, are published for trade. Basically, these are taken by mail already available from other the approximately 1,770,000 firms and produce dollar-volume and percent- government or private sources. This without paid employees. change (trend) estimates on such items objective led to the adoption of a as sales and merchandise inventories. .. and Surveys program consisting of four individual Estimates are developed both on an surveys, each aimed at a specific gap in unadjusted basis and adjusted for Since 1959, there have been monthly, knowledge, rather than a unified project seasonal variation. Also, there is an quarterly, and annual surveys that focus as is common in other censuses. The annual survey of receipts or revenues primarily on the volume of residential transportation census consisted of a for selected service industries. Other construction and the dollar value of passenger transportation survey annual surveys estimate revenues, (designated the National Travel Survey expenses, and inventories of revenue- in 1967 but discontinued in 1977) based producing equipment in the trucking 6The Census Bureau used the term “economic on a nationwide probability sample of industry, and revenue and expenses in censuses” to cover all of its economic data- households, and surveys of truck collection activities between 1954 and 1987. public warehousing. For 1992, on the advice of the Advertising inventories and use, commodity Council, the agency used the term “economic transportation, the last one being census” primarily to assist its promotional nonregulated motor carriers, and later 5For the first time, a census of housing was activities and because data users frequently did added to the decennial censuses in 1940. not understand what “economic censuses” meant. called public warehousing.

8 CFF-4 U.S. Census Bureau There were similar censuses for 1967, other economic programs in that the Census of Governments— 1972, and 1977 as part of the economic information is not collected from forms a Brief History census program. (Transportation data sent to respondents soliciting responses are collected by mail, and only in the 50 as in the case of surveys. Rather, the The 1840 Census of Population, which states and the District of Columbia.) information is compiled from forms and gathered data about numbers and kinds The 1992 census included the truck automated reports filed initially with the of schools and pupils, was the first that inventory and use survey—information U.S. Customs Service or, in some cases, sought information about state and on the physical characteristics and directly with the Census Bureau, for local governments. This pattern of data operational use of the Nation’s 59 virtually all shipments leaving (exports) collection about governments continued million private and commercial trucks. or entering (imports) the United States. in subsequent censuses of population, For the 1997 census, the name changed through the 19th century at the Government uses foreign trade to the vehicle inventory and use survey, constitutionally specified 10-year included establishment-based data for statistics to develop merchandise trade intervals. The scope expanded to figures in balance of payment accounts the motor carrier industry, water include information about property transportation, and services such as the and to appraise and analyze major values, local property taxes, and movements and trends (commodity and arrangement of passenger schools and their revenues. At the start transportation. The survey counted geographic) in international trade. of the 20th century, the Census Bureau Foreign trade data also are used over 72 million private and commercial split the collection of demographic and trucks registered in the United States extensively as the statistical base to economic data into separate canvasses. implement and analyze operations during 1997. The first state and local government under various international agreements, data collection under this new pattern, Foreign Trade such as the North America Free Trade done as part of the 1902 Survey of Agreement (NAFTA). Wealth, Debt and Taxation, extended In 1790, the Federal Government the data collection to the areas of Nongovernment users in industry, embarked on a program to compile revenues, expenditures, estimates of finance, research institutions, general statistics on foreign commerce national wealth by state and class of transportation use the foreign trade and navigation from annual reports property, and public debt. Once each in data to appraise the general trade submitted by the collectors of customs the next 3 decades, the Census Bureau situation and outlook. These data also and assembled by the U.S. Department repeated this collection pattern. of the Treasury. Since 1941, these are used in share-of-the-market analyses figures have been prepared by the U.S. and market penetration studies, and for The current system of state and local Census Bureau. Monthly statistics have product and market development. government economic data collection been compiled since 1866, and began with the 1957 Census of cumulative data continue to be available Governments Governments. Since then, the Census in some reports. In addition to the data The Census Bureau’s governmental Bureau conducted a census of on the Nation’s trade with foreign statistics programs are concerned governments every 5 years in the “2” countries, the Census Bureau also primarily with the organization, and “7” years of each decade. From compiles separate statistics on the finances, and employment of state and 1957 through 1992, the Census of Nation’s trade with Puerto Rico, the local governments. These are important Governments covered four major Virgin Islands of the United States, and economic statistics because they subject fields— other U.S. possessions. represent a significant slice of the 1. Governmental organization. Nation’s economy. Purchases of goods Numbers, characteristics, and The Census Bureau has the primary responsibility for the collection, and services by state, county, descriptions of state and local municipal, township, special district, governments, by type. compilation, and dissemination of the official export and import statistics of and school district governments 2. Government finance. Taxes and account for approximately 11 percent of the United States. This program other revenues, expenditures, produces critical statistics for virtually the gross domestic product. indebtedness and debt all Federal agencies and businesses The universe of state and local transactions, and cash and concerned with the Nation’s governments is large—there are more securities holdings. international trade. The first priority of than 87,000 such entities—and has 3. Government employment. Public the foreign trade program is the considerable complexity and diversity. employment and payrolls for a preparation and release of the monthly These governments run the gamut from representative month. U.S. International Trade in Goods and simple organizations, such as cemetery 4. Taxable property values. Assessed Services report (Balance of Trade), one special districts or small Midwest property valuations, market of the Nation’s “principal economic townships, to highly developed, valuations, and nominal and indicators.” This report and the entire extremely large governments, such as effective tax rates. foreign trade database of the United the state government of California or The 1992 Census of Governments States is available about 45 days after New York City. These mega- marked the final compilation of taxable the end of the calendar month. governments have financial activity property value data. Subsequent equivalent to the largest private The foreign trade statistical program is censuses of governments excluded this unique among the Census Bureau’s businesses catalogued in the Fortune 500. segment.

U.S. Census Bureau CFF-4 9 There were some variations in the data the state area and national level various economic characteristics of collections following 1957. Data (annual). the owning or controlling firms and collection relating to publicly elected • Quarterly summary of state and to present information about officials took place once every decade, local government tax revenue. establishments that provide usually in the “7” year. Public employee • Quarterly summary of public centralized management or organization and employee benefit employee retirement system supporting services for the owning studies occurred frequently in a number finances. companies’ other establishments of the censuses between 1977 and rather than for other firms or the 1992. Also, there were a few iterations • Federal expenditures by state general public. The economic (annual). of studies concerning outlying characteristics of companies territories of the U.S. (Puerto Rico, • Federal assistance awards engaged in agricultural production Guam, and the Virgin Islands of the (quarterly). were included for the first time for United States). In addition, there are several related 1982. The other approach is to programs that the Census Bureau collect data across sector lines and Every census of governments has then either publish them as such or employed data collection through mail conducts for other Federal agencies that had their genesis in the basic finance augment them with existing census and compilation by trained statistics. representatives from publicly available and employment surveys. These fall generally into two areas, criminal justice records. Since the mid-1970s, the • County Business Patterns (1946) is Census Bureau has used, also, a third programs and education related an annual series of reports that programs. The former includes a series data collection method known profile the economic structure of commonly as central collection. These of surveys conducted for the every U.S. county. They show Department of Justice. The latter are are cooperative local government data employment, number and size of collection programs run by state surveys that are within the purview of establishments, and payrolls, by the U.S. Department of Education. governments that share the local county for the United States and government data with the Census Statistics That Cross Puerto Rico, for the following Bureau. Central collection programs economic areas: agricultural Subject Lines account for a significant percentage of services, forestry, and fisheries; the national data. Over the years, the Census Bureau mining; contract construction; developed a number of programs to manufacturing; transportation and The censuses of governments data have provide data that cross economic or other public utilities (except the U.S. some unique features in comparison to demographic sectors. These are briefly Postal Service); wholesale trade; other economic data; they are voluntary described below; the years in retail trade; finance, insurance, and and not subject to confidentiality parentheses are the ones when the real estate; and services (except in provisions of the U.S. Code. The only programs were begun or transferred private households). exception to this in the census of from other Federal agencies. governments series has been individual • Minority-Owned Business Enterprises property value data, which are no longer One type of program involves the (1969) determines the extent of collected. The voluntary aspects of the manner in which census results are business ownership by specific surveys derive from our Federal system presented. minority groups in the United States of government, which defines the Blacks, persons of Hispanic origin, relationships between levels of • The concepts, definitions, Asian Americans, American Indians, government. The nonconfidentiality classification schemes, and and others. The program covers the aspects arise from the circumstance reporting units used in the economic United States, states, and areas with that all the data are developed from censuses, surveys, and related 250 or more minority firms. This public records, and, therefore, not programs generally have been made series contains useful information subject to any restrictions. uniform across economic sectors on finance, insurance, real estate, (1954). This allowed the data user and other service-related industries Recurring Surveys to compare different industries or not covered in other economic kinds of business in given census reports. Between each census of governments, geographic areas. the Census Bureau conducts several • Women-Owned Business (1972) periodic surveys, mostly annual, but • Both population and housing parallels the Minority-Owned supplemented with a few quarterly statistics were cross-tabulated in program, and is based on canvasses. These regular surveys one series (PHC) of reports (1960). administrative records used in the include— Thus, the user could find housing economic censuses. It covers U.S. characteristics shown by such places with 250 or more firms • Financial statistics aggregated for things as the householder’s race or owned by women. states, local governments, public ethnic origin for a small geographic employee retirement systems at area. • Characteristics of Business Owners the state area and national level (1982) covers firms owned by (annual). • Enterprise Statistics (1954) regroups minority groups and women, plus a economic census data for business • Employment statistics aggregated comparison groups of businesses establishments under common owned by nonminority males. for states, local governments at ownership or control to show

10 CFF-4 U.S. Census Bureau • Quarterly Financial Report for to tabulate 4,000 items per minute, but availability of computers became Manufacturing, Mining, and Trade subsequent generations of computers widespread.) Public use tapes, which Corporations (1982) is the only have increased this speed to around a allow users to handle the Census Bureau program that collects profit- million items per minute. Bureau’s data to suit their own or loss-related information. This requirements, take several forms: To take advantage of these computers, survey provides current estimates of Summary tapes parallel the published income, assets, liabilities, stock- there also had to be advances in getting reports, but often with greater the data ready for processing. Punching holders’ equity, and related financial statistical or geographic detail; and operating ratios, classified by cards, although far faster than writing, microdata tapes are samples of the is still basically a hand operation that is industry and asset size. basic records, with individual subject to human error and creates identification removed; and geographic quantities of perishable records. During Tools for the Census reference tapes (see “Computerized the 1950s, the National Bureau of Geography” below) make it possible to While planning, taking, processing Standards and the Census Bureau match data elements and geographic censuses and surveys, and publishing developed a system called FOSDIC (film codes to their respective areas the results still requires the work of optical sensing device for input to electronically. In addition to these thousands of people (over 860,000 in computers). Questionnaires that were standard products, special tabulations the case of the decennial censuses of completed by using a pencil to blacken are prepared to users’ specifications on population and housing), many dots opposite the appropriate answers a reimbursable basis, again with advances have been made over the were permanently photographed onto individual identification masked. years in the speed of publication and microfilm with automatic cameras. the multiplication of statistical and FOSDIC then “read” the blackened dots In the late 1970s and early 1980s, some geographic detail through the and transferred the data to magnetic data were published on microfiche that development of mechanical and tape for the computer at speeds that did not appear in paper reports. electronic tools. ranged from 3,000 items a minute with Beginning in the mid-1980s, some the earliest models to 70,000 items a statistics were made available on For nearly a 100 years, census data minute in more recent versions. In the diskettes for use in microcomputers were tabulated by clerks who made 1980s, FOSDIC also could transmit the and users began to obtain statistics tally marks or added columns of figures data over long distances to the “online” through the CENDATA system. with a pen or a pencil. As the Nation computers at Census Bureau In the later 1980s, the Census Bureau grew, and there were more people, headquarters. FOSDIC also performed began testing CD-ROM (compact disk/ items, and characteristics to count, simple checks and tabulations so that read-only memory) laser disks as a speedier tabulation methods had to be discrepancies could be reviewed before medium for releasing data. invented or the results of one census the computer began its work. Other would never be processed before it was For Census 2000, FOSDIC was replaced equipment allowed data from survey or time for the next one. census report forms to be keyed with optical character recognition technology, allowing the Census Bureau In 1880, a “tabulating machine”—a directly to the computer tape and to design a respondent-friendly (instead wooden box in which a roll of paper checked for acceptability at the same of machine-friendly) questionnaire in was threaded past an opening where a time. which write-in responses also could be clerk marked the tallies in various At the other end of the computer captured electronically. The CENDATA columns and then added up the marks process, high-speed electronic printers of the 1990s evolved into online data when the roll was full—made tabulating were utilized, beginning in the 1950s, available through the Internet on the at least twice as fast as before. The that produced tabulations in forms that American FactFinder program available first real breakthrough came when a required only the addition of headings from the Census Bureau’s Web site: punchcard tabulating system was to be published by offset processes. http://www.census.gov. developed for the 1890 Census of From 1970 on, the Census Bureau took Population. Certain facts about a advantage of new high-speed Geographic Areas person, family, farm, or business were composers that converted the data on and Products recorded by punching holes in cards. computer tape directly to words and The cards were mechanically fed numbers on off-set negative film used Maps and Charts through a machine that counted the in publishing. A variety of electronic different holes by means of an electric Over the last century, the Census data plotters came into use to produce current that passed through each hole Bureau’s census and survey operations maps, charts, and graphs from the and tripped a counter. This system have become heavily dependent on computerized data. could count 250 items a minute. maps, both for collecting data and, Mechanical tabulating improved over The Census Bureau began making along with charts, for presenting the years, and by 1950 its speed had unpublished data available to users in statistics. increased to 2,000 items per minute. typed or manuscript tables early in the Maps (many in color) and charts were 20th century, in punchcard form at least The next major speedup of data first used to illustrate the demographic, from the mid-1920s, and on computer processing came in 1951 with the first economic, and other characteristics of tape since the 1960s. (Users large-scale electronic computer, UNIVAC various geographic areas covered in the sometimes ordered microform or paper I, designed and built specifically for the 1870 census and have appeared in even printouts of the tapes until the Census Bureau. This machine was able

U.S. Census Bureau CFF-4 11 greater number and variety for most have chosen to adopt the official In the economic censuses, data— censuses and surveys in later years. metropolitan area definitions for particularly for retail activity—have Outline maps are printed in reports or nonstatistical program purposes. been published for small areas generally separately, allowing data users to defined by using census tracts and identify the exact areas for which With large-scale metropolitan growth in blocks to approximate central business the 1960s and 1970s, many formerly statistics are presented in their printed districts, major retail centers, or ZIP- reports, tapes, or other products. separate metropolitan areas merged (for Code areas. (Most economic statistics example, Dallas and Fort Worth, TX), are tabulated for incorporated places, Since 1900, thousands of maps have and the expanding size of certain of the counties, metropolitan areas, states, been collected from state and local largest metropolitan complexes created and the like.) agencies, and/or prepared by the what were in many respects separate Census Bureau’s mapmakers, for taking metropolitan entities within the larger Computerized Geography censuses and assigning geographic whole (for example, the Long Island codes to the results. In the 1980s, the portion of the New York area). Noticing The advent of the mailout/mailback agency began working with the U.S. these developments, in 1983 the Office data-collection technique changed the Geological Survey to develop an of Management and Budget adopted the role of the census taker, who electronic data base, called the TIGER term “metropolitan statistical area” traditionally had recorded all of the (topologically integrated geographic (MSA) for most areas, while recognizing geographic information applicable to encoding and referencing) system, certain of the largest areas as each household, establishment, etc. which combined these various “consolidated metropolitan statistical Consequently, address coding guides on mapmaking, coding, and related areas” (CMSAs), within which “primary computer tape were developed to functions into a single coordinated, metropolitan statistical areas” (PMSAs) assign geographic codes for mailing computerized operation. also were officially recognized. As of and/or tabulation in various censuses, September 1999, the United States had beginning with the 1962 Census of Growth of Statistical Areas 19 CMSAs containing 76 PMSAs, as well Governments. For Census 2000, the as 259 MSAs. (These counts do not master address file was used to Reflecting both the capacity to handle a include Puerto Rico, with one CMSA automatically code the questionnaires large volume of data, made possible by containing two PMSAs, and four MSAs.) mailed to both metropolitan and advances in data-processing techniques, nonmetropolitan households to the and users’ growing needs for small-area In 1910, the first census tracts were appropriate census tracts and block data, the trend, beginning in the early outlined for New York City to show numbering areas, blocks, and other 20th century, has been to produce more groups of city blocks where the geographic areas, and made available and more data for units such as residents had similar characteristics. (A for clerks to use in assigning geographic metropolitan statistical areas, census census tract averages about 4,000 codes to the places where people tracts, blocks, and ZIP-Code areas. people.) Tract statistics from the 1980 reported that they worked. Census of Population and Housing were In 1910, the Census Bureau began published for all SMSAs as well as some Techniques were developed in the mid- publishing population census data for areas outside them. For Census 2000, 1960s to create computerized “metropolitan districts”—basically major tract statistics were available not only geographic base files that had wider cities and their adjacent suburban areas. for all SMSAs but also for most of the applications than simply assigning The Federal Government designated remainder of the country for similar codes to addresses. The files are useful “standard metropolitan areas” (SMAs) areas called Block Numbering Areas tools for local government and private for the 1950 census as consistent (BNAs). organizations interested in such statistical definitions of the Nation’s activities as computer mapping and major urban communities. In 1959, the In the 1940 census, the Census Bureau network analysis. As noted in the term was altered to “standard published population and housing data previous section, the TIGER system metropolitan statistical area” (SMSA). by block for cities with 50,000 or more represents a further technological inhabitants, and for other governmental In concept, each metropolitan area is a advance in this area. units that contracted for such work. closely integrated economic and social This program has increased every unit with a large population nucleus, International Activities decade since then (almost 7 million and generally consists of one or more blocks in 1990 with around 8 to 9 The Census Bureau’s International entire counties that meet specified million blocks expected for Census Programs Center (IPC) conducts standards with regard to population, 2000) and presents the data on demographic and socioeconomic studies commuting patterns, and metropolitan microfiche and computer tape. and strengthens statistical development character. Each area has one or more around the world through technical central cities (in New England, towns The 1950 census saw the advent of the assistance and training. For more than and cities, rather than counties, are the urbanized area. Its purpose was to 50 years, IPC has assisted in the basic geographic units for defining make census data tabulation possible collection, processing, and analysis of these statistical areas.) These areas for populations around one or more statistics all over the world, and were quickly adopted for Federal central cities. An urbanized area must promoted the dissemination and use of statistics, and their use spread to the have at least 50,000 people, with a this information globally. private sector for such purposes as population density of at least 1,000 per assessing markets and placing square mile in the areas adjacent to the IPC has worked in more than 100 advertising. Some Federal agencies also core area. countries on designing, planning, and conducting statistical activities that

12 CFF-4 U.S. Census Bureau contribute to economic and social 14. Foreign Trade Statistics may order special tabulations at cost. development. Since 1947, IPC has 15. Statistics on Manufactures These standard and special tabulations trained more than 11,000 participants 16. Statistics on Mineral Industries are subjected to the same screening to from statistical organizations in other (Discontinued) prevent disclosure of individual data as countries. 17. Statistics on Governments are the standard Census Bureau (Discontinued) publications. In addition, IPC has developed statistical 18. Census Bureau Programs and software packages to assist in the Products Public-use tapes, diskettes, CD-ROMs, and planning, processing, and analysis of 19. Enterprise Statistics some microfiche are available from the data from censuses and surveys. At (Discontinued) Marketing Services Office, Customer the present time, this software is in use 20. Energy and Related Statistics Services Center, U.S. Census Bureau, in more than 200 computer processing (Discontinued) Washington, DC 20233. There also are centers throughout the world. 21. International Programs state data centers in every state, the (Discontinued) District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and IPC also provides highly-specialized 22. Data for Communities the Virgin Islands of the United States, international research and analysis. as well as other registered public and Combining exceptional access to foreign The various publications, maps, microfiche, computer tapes, diskettes, private organizations located data with the expertise of our staff, IPC throughout the country, which are able analyzes a wide range of demographic, CD-ROMs, and items online are described in the Census Bureau’s annual to provide tape copies and related socioeconomic, and health issues, services. including— Census Catalog and Guide and specialized guides to publications, and • Population projections and trends are advertised in the monthly Factfinder for the Nation for all countries of the world and newsletter, Census and You (sub- Many decades of collecting data have selected subnational areas. scription) and free product announce- brought a wealth of experience to the ments and publication order forms. • Trends in key demographic U.S. Census Bureau , and for several reasons it is especially qualified to be indicators, including fertility, Where Data Are Available the Nation’s major factfinder. mortality, age structure, and migration. Published census statistics are available It has established a reputation for to anyone who needs them. Public and trustworthiness, and people generally • Economic and social status of academic libraries across the country are willing to give it accurate populations in transition to market have or have access to the printed information, knowing it will be kept economics. reports, and an increasing number have confidential. them on microfiche or computer tape. • Role and status of women. Copies are kept for reference at the U.S. The Census Bureau collects data IPC maintains an extensive collection of Department of Commerce’s 47 district throughout the country, from year to foreign statistical publications, many of offices and the Census Bureau’s 12 year, and from one generation to the which are obtained through official regional offices (see p. 2), all of which next; consequently, its statistics for exchanges between the U.S. Census provide assistance in finding information. different areas or time periods are Bureau and statistical offices worldwide. useful for comparative study. Copies of the Census Bureau’s and other The IPC library is open to the public. agencies’ publications can be purchased The agency has developed an extensive program for consulting with users of its Guides to the Census Bureau’s from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, statistics, primarily through public Principal Programs Washington, DC 20402, or through its meetings, advisory committees, and The products of the Census Bureau’s bookstores located in other parts of the conferences and workshops, in which principal programs and their uses are Nation. suggestions are sought and the latest described in separate brochures in the methods of handling census materials The statistics are summarized in several Factfinder series: are studied to assure that the data are of the Census Bureau’s convenient widely useful. It consults regularly with 1. Statistics on Race and Ethnicity compendia, which include data from a statistical agencies in other countries to 2. Availability of Census Records wide variety of sources: The Statistical take mutual advantage of the latest About Individuals Abstract of the United States [year] techniques being developed in the 3. Agriculture Statistics (annual, since 1878) and its more recent United States and abroad. (Discontinued) periodic supplements County and City 4. History and Organization Data Book [year] (since 1957), and State The staff constantly looks for new and 5. Reference Sources and Metropolitan Area Data Book [year], better ways to serve the Nation’s 6. Housing Statistics since 1979. statistical needs and welcomes 7. Population Statistics suggestions. Write or call— 8. Census Geography—Concepts In addition to those appearing in Census and Products Bureau publications, census and survey Director 9. Construction Statistics statistics can be found in almanacs, U.S. Census Bureau 10. Retail Trade Statistics journals, textbooks, newspapers, and Washington, DC 20233 11. Wholesale Trade Statistics other secondary sources. 12. Statistics on Service Industries 13. Transportation, Communications, Census Bureau data may be purchased, and Utilities Statistics at the cost of reproduction. Users also

U.S. Census Bureau CFF-4 13