Has it Been Five Years?

Hard to believe, but it’s been 5 years since the last census was taken. Starting January 21, 2020, the bureau started counting the population in remote Alaska and moved to kick off self-responses on March 12th when the first mailed notices went out. As we now know,...

Dealing with the 4 Million New People

Late last year, the census estimate jumped by over 4 million people. Over the past few years, news reports have indicated that more than two million people have crossed the southern border annually. The Census Bureau has the capacity to incorporate these figures into...

Diverging from Expectations

Over the decades, there have been many occasions when the data published by the Census Bureau is either likely or absolutely in error. Typically, we rely upon national and state level population estimates to use as control totals. This always presents a dilemma for a...

The American Community Survey

The decennial census of the United States is a constitutionally mandated function of the federal government, the main purpose of which is the apportionment of representatives. Over time, the scope of the census questionnaire was generally expanded, and in 1940, the...

Census Potpourri

As we have alerted readers in the past, the definitions of race and ethnicity will be changing over the next couple of years. As with most major changes, this has both positive and negative effects on users. On the plus side, the new definitions were outlined in the...

Classification Changes

In years past, the census has typically obtained race and ethnicity data through a separation of two concepts – race and Hispanic ethnicity. This caused much confusion, as even the definitions of what constitutes ‘race’ can be murky, and many people of Hispanic origin...