Census Bureau Opens Window on US Communities

The U.S. Census Bureau has for the first time released 5-year estimates from the American Community Survey (ACS), making available social, economic, housing and demographic statistics for every community in the country.

The newly-released stats are based on a rolling annual sample survey mailed to about 3 million addresses between Jan. 1, 2005, and Dec. 31, 2009, and work by pooling several years of survey responses to give robust bases. They cover more than 670,000 distinct geographies using around 11.1 billion individual estimates.

The Bureau says it will release a new set of 5-year estimates every year, allowing local trends to be tracked. Until now, small geographic areas had to rely on year 2000 Census 'long form' figures, which took about two years to tabulate, for detailed info on community characteristics.

U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Groves comments: 'These estimates deliver on our commitment to Congress to provide timely statistics on our communities and our economy, allowing for a more efficient government... The data provided through the ACS provide a statistical foundation to evaluate our nation's needs, and we now share them with communities across the country as a powerful resource for decision making.'

The new estimates are not related to the 2010 Census population counts, due for release on Dec. 21st.

A few examples of the level of detail the new release makes available are:

Poverty
The county-level poverty rate for individuals ranged from less than 4 to more than 40%. In 19 counties or county equivalents, the poverty rate was below 5%, whilst in 21 counties, more than one-in-three individuals were living in poverty. Of the five counties with poverty rates greater than 39 percent, four contain or are contained within American Indian reservations, and the fifth, Willacy County, Texas, is on the Gulf Coast.

Housing Value
The counties with the lowest median home values for owner-occupied housing units included Reeves, Texas, at $29,400. Counties with the highest median home values included Nantucket, Mass., at about $1 million. Thirty-two counties had median home values of greater than $500,000, the majority of which were in California. Thirty-three counties had median home values of less than $50,000, 19 of which were in Texas.

Mean Travel Time
New Yorkers have the longest mean travel time to work. Richmond, Queens, Kings and Bronx were the only four counties with mean travel times to work in excess of 40 minutes. Counties with the lowest mean travel time to work included King, Texas, at 3.4 minutes.

Educational Attainment
The percentage of those 25 and over who had completed high school ranged from 46.5% in Starr County, Texas, to 98.7% in Hinsdale County, Colo., and Los Alamos County, N.M. In 10 counties, more than 95 percent of the population 25 and over had completed high school. Of the 10 counties with high school completion rates over 95 percent, three were in Colorado (Hinsdale, Douglas and Routt) and three were in Nebraska (Wheeler, Logan and Grant).

Language, Spanish Speakers
The county with the highest percentage of the population 5 and over that spoke Spanish at home was Starr, Texas, at 95.9%. Starr was one of 28 counties, and one of 22 counties in Texas, where more than half the population 5 and over spoke Spanish at home.

Household Income
Falls Church, Va. Has the highest median household income at $113,313. Only two other counties - Fairfax and Loudoun, both in Virginia, had median household incomes greater than $100,000. Eighteen counties had a median household income of less than $25,000, including six in Kentucky, three in Mississippi and Texas and two in Alabama.

Foreign-Born
Nine counties in the USA had populations that were greater than one-third foreign-born, including three in California (Los Angeles, Santa Clara and San Francisco), and Kings and Queens counties in New York. There were 292 counties, many of them with low total populations (222 under 20,000), with populations that were less than 1% foreign-born, including 34 counties in Kentucky, 27 in West Virginia, 26 in Missouri and 21 in Mississippi.

The above are from sample surveys and statistics are subject to sampling and nonsampling error; changes in survey design from year to year can also affect results.

Details of the new data are at www.census.gov/acs/www/data_documentation/documentation_main .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.