All Things Census
04.15.11
In addition to publishing detailed numbers from the 2010 Census, the Census Bureau has been releasing performance indicators from the count. They offer clues to help answer the question of how well the bureau did in counting the entire U.S. population, only once, and in the right place.
The most crucial evidence, an independent post-census quality survey, will not be published until next year. That survey will produce measurements of undercounts and overcounts of specific race and Hispanic groups. However, other information is available now that speaks to the completeness of the count as well as to its data quality. This posting explains some of these key metrics and places them in a chronological narrative of the census-taking process.
Mail Participation Rate: The Census Bureau mailed millions of forms in March 2010. An early important indicator was the mail participation rate: 72% of occupied households sent back their forms, the same as for the short form in 2000. This was a good result, both for cost and quality. Non-response follow-up is expensive, and mailed-in census forms tend to have more accurate information than can be obtained from interviews weeks or months after Census Day, April 1. Read more
04.08.11
More than 2,000 demographers, sociologists and others converged on Washington, D.C., last week for the Population Association of America’s annual meeting. Among the poster sessions and papers presented were some that dispute the popular (or academic) wisdom about important aspects of family life. Three are described here, along with Pew Research Center survey findings that bear on the topics they cover—family meals, cohabitation and divorce.
Conference presentations are typically works-in-progress, to be revised as more information becomes available or challenges to their methodology are resolved. They are not the final word on these topics, and should not be taken as the new conventional wisdom. But they raise valuable questions about substantive issues. Read more
04.06.11
Now that the 2010 Census numbers have been released for every place in the United States, a number of local officials—including the mayors of New York and Detroit—have announced plans to file administrative challenges to counts that they contend are too low. Based on past patterns, some lawsuits alleging undercounts also can be expected.
Census numbers indicated that New York City’s population in 2010 was 8,175,133, compared with 8,008,278 a decade earlier. That gain of about 167,000 people was smaller than expected, and city officials say it was less than the number of new housing units added over the decade. Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the city will file a formal challenge, focusing on problems in Brooklyn and Queens.
The mayor of Detroit, Dave Bing, hopes a challenge could increase his city’s official count of 713,777 to about 750,000. As counted by the Census Bureau, Detroit’s population fell by 25% from 2000 to 2010. Both city and regional officials say the official count could be low by tens of thousands of people.
Both cities will appeal under the Census Bureau’s Count Question Resolution program, which offers a limited opportunity to challenge the numbers. Any changes would not affect apportionment of congressional seats, counts for redistricting purposes or official census data products. The changes would be incorporated into Census Bureau population estimates, which federal agencies use as the basis for dividing program funds among the nation’s states and localities for the next decade. Read more
04.05.11
When final national race counts from the 2010 Census were released last month, they included more than 9 million Americans who self-identified as belonging to two or more race groups. One of them was not President Barack Obama, child of a white mother and black father, who said last year that he described himself on his census form as “black.”
As columnist Gregory Rodriguez recently pointed out, the number of Americans who checked both “black” and “white” on their census forms grew by 134% from 2000 to 2010. (Among non-Hispanics, about 1.6 million reported being both black and white, but not any other race; among Hispanics, about 654,000 did so.) Rodriguez lamented the president’s decision not to include himself in more than one racial category.
The perception of Obama’s racial identity is quite different among black and white Americans, according to a Pew Research Center survey on race in late 2009 that asked respondents “do you think of Obama as black or mixed race?” Among non-Hispanic whites, 53% said the president was mixed race, but 55% of non-Hispanic blacks said he was black. Among Hispanics of all races, 61% said Obama is mixed race.
03.30.11
The Pew Hispanic Center released an updated analysis today that compares Hispanic population counts in the 2010 Census with the Census Bureau’s own population estimates. (A previous analysis, published March 15, included numbers for 33 states. This report includes all 50 states and Washington, D.C.) Nationally, the 2010 Census counted nearly 1 million more Hispanics than expected, as compared with the bureau’s population estimates. That 1.9% discrepancy was notably lower than the gap seen in the 2000 Census. Read more
03.25.11
The nation’s Hispanic population rose to 50.5 million in the 2010 Census, and increased by 43% over the decade. A new analysis of 2010 Census data by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center, indicates that in nine states, the size of the Hispanic population more than doubled. They included the Southeastern states of Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and South Carolina, as well as Maryland and South Dakota.
The Pew Hispanic Center analysis includes state rankings and totals for population, share of population and percent growth over the decade, both for all Hispanics and for children under age 18.
03.24.11
The Census Bureau has just released 2010 Census population figures for race groups and Hispanics, culminating state-by-state releases that began last month. Later today, the Pew Hispanic Center will release a short analysis of trends in growth and dispersion of the nation’s Latino population.
03.15.11
A Pew Hispanic Center analysis released today examines differences between Census 2010 counts of Hispanics and the Census Bureau’s population estimates of Hispanics in the 33 states for which detailed statistics have been released so far.
It finds that in 23 of those states, the census counts of Hispanics were at least 2% higher than expected. In three states, the totals were at least 2% under what had been expected from the population estimates. In seven states, the differences one way or the other was less than 2%.
02.28.11
New Zealand has canceled its planned 2011 census because of the major earthquake on the nation’s South Island on Feb. 22. The census, which is taken every five years, had been scheduled for March 8. Residents had the option of filling out forms online or on paper.
In canceling the census, government officials said it would be an unfair burden and a distraction to ask people to fill out census forms while they are dealing with the aftermath of the quake. They also cited damage to Statistics New Zealand offices with “extensive impact on census staff.”
The nation’s chief statistician, Geoff Bascand, said he and his staff would “investigate the feasibility of alternative options.” According to news accounts, Bascand said the nation’s Statistics Act must be amended in order for the census to be canceled because the law requires a census to be taken every five years.
02.24.11
As the Census Bureau rolls out the 2010 population counts for Hispanics by state, a new 2010 Census data portal has been launched on the Pew Hispanic Center website. It includes 2010 and 2000 counts of the total population, non-Hispanic population and Hispanic population, as well as the Hispanic share of the population, for states and counties. Numeric and percentage change in the total and Hispanic populations also are included. The data can be downloaded in Excel format.
The Census Bureau began releasing detailed race and Hispanic totals state-by-state this month, and is scheduled to complete the process by April 1. As each state becomes available, data for that state and its counties will be posted on the Pew Hispanic Center website.
