Random Samplings

Blacks and Hispanics made up a growing proportion of voters in 2010 elections

Written by: Tiffany Julian, Social, Economic and Housing Statistics Division

The 2008 presidential election saw the largest level of voting turnout among black citizens since the Census Bureau began consistently measuring citizenship status in 1996. A similar peak was also reached for Hispanic citizens. In the election of 2010, did either of these groups keep up their voter turnout rates?

At first glance, the answer is “no” because both groups declined as a portion of the voting population from 2008 to 2010. However, this ignores the large difference in voting patterns between presidential elections and congressional elections.

In presidential elections (2000, 2004, 2008), voter turnout increases for all groups, including black and Hispanic citizens. The black share of the presidential vote in 2000, 2004 and 2008 averaged 0.7 percentage points higher than the following congressional vote (2002, 2006, 2010). The margin for Hispanics was 0.2 percentage points. (These percentages, 0.7 and 0.2 percent, are not statistically different.) A drop-off going from a presidential to a congressional election was to be expected for both groups.

After the record-setting turnout in 2008, neither the Hispanics’ nor the blacks’ share of the vote fell more than it had in most recent congressional elections. As a result, the black and Hispanic contribution to the vote in 2010 was higher than in any of the other congressional elections from 1998 to 2010.

Read the press release.

These numbers come from Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2010, a set of tables that compares voting and registration patterns by demographic, social and geographic characteristics. They also include state figures on voting and registration.

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How small errors can have a big impact on small populations

When you checked the boxes on your census form, you probably did not pay much attention to the form design. But it is something the Census Bureau researches and gives a lot of attention. Something as simple as using vertical instead of horizontal boxes can have a big impact on how you read the form and the data we gather.

If one person’s eye misreads the form and checks the wrong box, it may not change percentages of statistics very much. But if even 1 percent of a large population checks the wrong box on a question, it could lead to an inaccurate picture of a smaller population.

For example, you’ll see in the video below that if you have 1,000 circles and 100,000 squares and just one-percent of the squares are counted as circles, then that’s one thousand squares now listed as circles. This mismarking would result in responses that double the amount of circles.

A similar data capture error affected the 2010 Census results for same-sex couple households. On the form used by census takers, the boxes for sex were placed vertically, and the wrong gender box was marked for a small percentage of opposite-sex partners, artificially increasing the percentage of same-sex couple households.

When we discovered this inconsistency in the responses, we developed a better set of estimates to provide a more accurate measure of same-sex married and unmarried partner households. These estimates are now available.

At the Census Bureau, we strive to eliminate these kinds of errors and modify our survey questionnaires to gather the best possible data on the nation’s people, places and economy.

This brief video illustrates how a small error in a large population can create a large error in a smaller related population, such as the same-sex couple population.

 

For more information, visit our online press kit.

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Health Insurance: Most Have Coverage

Written by: David Johnson, US Census Bureau

New figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau show that most of us – 256.2 million, or 83.7 percent – did, in fact, have health insurance coverage during the entire 2010 calendar year. However, that left 49.9 million, or 16.3 percent, who did not.

Dig a little deeper into the numbers and we see so many key factors that influence whether one ended up in the “have” or “have-not” camp.

One key factor is age. Because of Medicare, coverage for people 65 and older is virtually universal, with only 2.0 percent lacking coverage in 2010. On the other hand, for young adults 18 to 24, the situation was vastly different, as 27.2 percent were not covered.

The uninsured rate is higher among those with lower incomes and lower among people with higher incomes. In 2010, despite the existence of programs such as Medicaid and Medicare, 26.9 percent of people with annual incomes of less than $25,000 had no health insurance coverage.

Meanwhile, 8.0 percent of those in households with incomes of $75,000 or more were uninsured.

Minorities and the foreign-born population also were more likely to lack coverage. The uninsured rate stood at 18.1 percent for Asians, 20.8 percent for blacks and 30.7 percent for Hispanics. Twenty percent of naturalized citizens were uninsured, while noncitizens had the highest uninsured rate of all, as about half (45.1 percent) lacked health insurance. The percentages of non-Hispanic whites and native-born people who lacked coverage were 11.7 percent and 13.8 percent, respectively.

The Census Bureau has published numbers on health insurance coverage since 1987. Each year, we ask roughly 78,000 households about whether they had any coverage during the previous calendar year in the Current Population Survey. This is the source of the numbers used as the nation determines the course to follow on this issue. The information you give in answering our surveys helps policymakers, advocacy groups and think tanks understand the extent of the lack of health insurance.

To access all of our health insurance data, visit our website.

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American Community Survey Takes Our Nation’s Demographic Pulse Each Year

Written by: James Treat, US Census Bureau

In every census between 1940 and 2000, millions of American households received a “long form”, which contained scores of questions on a wide range of demographic, socioeconomic and housing topics.

Following the 2000 Census, the long form was, in effect, split off from the census and turned into the American Community Survey. The rationale was simple: because our nation changes so rapidly, our communities needed this kind of information on a much more frequent basis − annually, rather than once a decade − in order to make informed decisions about where to build roads, construct schools and locate emergency services. And businesses sought these key data much more often than once every 10 years too for the purposes of site selection and marketing.

Yesterday, the Census Bureau released results from the annual ACS, which cover 2010. The information was collected from almost 2 million housing unit interviews across the country.

The survey offers statistics on more than 40 subjects, such as income, health insurance coverage, commuting to work, educational attainment, language spoken at home, ancestry, selected monthly homeowner costs, the foreign-born population, occupation, and military veterans. The numbers are available for not only the nation as a whole and all of our states and congressional districts, but also for counties and cities with total populations of more than 65,000. Statistics for smaller areas will be available later in the year.

Dig deep into this goldmine of numbers and here are a few of the nuggets you will find:

• Average travel time to work was highest for Maryland (31.8 minutes) and then New York (31.3 minutes). North Dakota had the lowest average travel times (16.1) followed by South Dakota (16.8).
• Real median household income decreased between the 2009 ACS and 2010 ACS in 35 states. For 15 states and the District of Columbia, real median household income in the 2010 ACS was not statistically different from that in the 2009 ACS.
• In 2010, 32 percent of the foreign-born population from Latin America were naturalized citizens. Among counties of birth, Jamaica (61 percent) and Cuba (56 percent) had the highest percent naturalized. Mexico (23 percent) and Honduras (21 percent) were among the countries with the lowest percent naturalized.
• In 2010, the percent of individuals 25 and older with at least a bachelor’s degree ranged from 17.5 percent in West Virginia to 39.0 percent in Massachusetts. In six states more than one-third of those 25 and over had a bachelor’s degree: Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Virginia.

In October, the Census Bureau will release a set of ACS estimates covering all areas with populations of 20,000 or more, based on data collected between 2008 and 2010. A third set of ACS estimates, covering the 2006-2010 period, will be released in December, providing information for all geographic areas regardless of size.

Nowhere else will one see data on such a wide array of key attributes about our communities. To dig into the data yourself, visit the American FactFinder.

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End of Recession Doesn’t Mean Good Times Return Right Away

Written by: David Johnson, US Census Bureau

An economic recession is typically defined by the National Bureau of Economic Research as a decline in the gross domestic product for two or more consecutive calendar quarters. The last recession began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009.

Numbers just released by the Census Bureau, however, illustrate that while the recession may technically be over, household economic conditions did not improve.

Every year, the Census Bureau collects data on how much income households receive. The year 2010 is the first full calendar year after the latest recession and the first chance we have to see whether, based on income, economic conditions have improved since the recession’s end.

The answer is “no.” During the 2010 calendar year, median household income was $49,445, 2.3 percent lower than in 2009 after adjusting for inflation. Median indicates half of households had income more than this amount and half less. The total household income indicates the amount of money everyone 15 and older living in the household collectively brought in that year.

More often than not in recent history, the end of a recession has not immediately led to rising income levels. There have been seven recessions since 1969. In four of them, including the last one, median household income actually declined in the first full year after the recession. On two other occasions, the change was not statistically significant. Only once did it actually increase.

Over the years, researchers and analysts have used these annual income estimates to chart the effectiveness of government programs, gauge the economic well-being of the country, develop marketing strategies for business and assess the impact of changing demographic patterns. These numbers are considered the most timely and accurate national data on income.

Respondents in our surveys may feel uneasy giving information on personal subjects like income. However, this is how the nation determines our economic health – through analyzing the responses of households across America. Furthermore, there is no need to worry. All Census Bureau employees take an oath and are sworn for life not to share any personal data with anyone.

To access all of our income data, visit our website.

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Income Gap: Is it Widening?

Written by: David Johnson, US Census Bureau

Economists study closely the issue of income inequality in our nation; that is, the income gap between the wealthiest and least wealthy Americans.

The Census Bureau publishes several measures of income inequality every year. The two principal measures used are the share of aggregate household income received by quintiles (Quintiles mean the wealthiest 20 percent, the next wealthiest 20 percent, and so forth), and the Gini Index.

We found that, based on the quintile measure, income inequality increased between 2009 and 2010. In 2010, the bottom 20 percent of households received 3.3 percent of total income, down from 3.4 percent in 2009. These households had incomes of $20,000 or less in 2010. There was also a decrease in the second lowest quintile from 8.6 percent to 8.5 percent.

Toward the other end of the continuum, those in the next-to-top 20 percent (fourth quintile) received 23.4 percent of income in 2010, up from 23.2 percent in 2009. These households had incomes between $61,736 and $100,065. Those in the very top 20 percent, meanwhile, controlled about half the nation’s income, not statistically different from 2009. These households had incomes of $100,066 or more. About 23.7 million households fall into each quintile.

The other measure is the Gini index, which stood at 0.469 in 2010. The Gini indicates higher inequality as the index approaches one. In other words, if the index was one, it would mean a single household in the U.S. had all the country’s income. Conversely, an index of zero would signal perfect equality, in which all the nation’s households had the exact same amount of income.

Between 2009 and 2010, the change in the Gini index was not statistically significant. Since 1993, however, the earliest year for which comparable measures of income inequality are available, the Gini index is up 3.3 percent, which means inequality has increased somewhat over the long term.

To access all of our measures of income inequality, read the report here.

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Households Doubling Up

Written by: David Johnson, US Census Bureau

In coping with economic challenges over the past few years, many of us have combined households with other family members or individuals. These “doubled-up” households are defined as those that include at least one “additional” adult – in other words, a person 18 or older who is not enrolled in school and is not the householder, spouse or cohabiting partner of the householder.

The Census Bureau reported today that the number and share of doubled-up households and adults sharing households across the country increased over the course of the recession, which began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009. In spring 2007, there were 19.7 million doubled-up households, amounting to 17.0 percent of all households. Four years later, in spring 2011, the number of such households had climbed to 21.8 million, or 18.3 percent.

All in all, 61.7 million adults, or 27.7 percent, were doubled-up in 2007, rising to 69.2 million, or 30.0 percent, in 2011.

Young adults were especially hard-hit, with 5.9 million people ages 25 to 34 living in their parents’ household in 2011, up from 4.7 million before the recession. That left 14.2 percent of young adults living in their parents’ households in March 2011, up more than two percentage points over the period.

These young adults who lived with their parents had an official poverty rate of only 8.4 percent, since the income of their entire family is compared with the poverty threshold. If their poverty status were determined by their own income, 45.3 percent would have had income falling below the poverty threshold for a single person under age 65.

Each year, the Census Bureau asks people in roughly 78,000 households about their income in the Annual Social and Economic Supplement to our Current Population Survey. If you are one of them, remember that your answer is very important and kept in strict confidence. This information helps our nation address the many problems of poverty and find solutions.

To learn more about poverty at the local level, you can consult results from the American Community Survey, which has statistics from counties, cities and smaller areas.

To access all of our poverty data, visit our website.

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What is a College Degree Worth?

Written by: Tiffany Julian, Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division, US Census Bureau

A college degree has long been considered the golden ticket to success in life. High schools and parents constantly reinforce the importance of obtaining a college degree to the young adults in their life. With the rising costs of tuition, room and board and meal plans, the question remains: is a college diploma worth the time and investment? Will a college degree provide a job seeker with an advantage over other competitors in the job market?

 According to a report released by the US Census Bureau, there is a correlation between higher education and work-life earnings. The Education and Synthetic Work-Life Earnings report showed that education had more effect on work-life earnings than other demographic factors, such as race, gender and Hispanic origin. For example, a Hispanic male worker who has a professional degree is expected to make $3.1 million over a 40-year work-life, whereas someone with an eighth grade level of education or lower will make $977,000.

The report shows that factors such as race, Hispanic origin, gender, citizenship, English-speaking ability and geographic location influence work-life earnings, though none of these characteristics has a greater impact on earnings than education. For two people who are alike in all ways but education, the estimated annual difference in life earnings between a professional degree and an eighth grade education was about $72,000. This analysis reflects a strong correlation between education and earnings.

This report also shows that even women in the most advantaged race groups earn less than men, in the most economically disadvantaged race groups. Generally, Asian men and women with a Bachelor’s degree or higher had greater returns on higher education than blacks or Hispanics of either gender. So what does this mean to a recent high school graduate? And what does this mean for a working professional considering college? Is the struggle really worth it? At least in economic terms, the answer is yes. The relationship between higher education and work-life earnings does have a positive correlation.

 

Read the press release.

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Characteristics of New Housing

What did new housing look like in 2010? How large was the average new house? How many bedrooms did new homes have? What was the average cost of a new single family home?

Every year, the U.S. Census Bureau collects data on the characteristics of new residential construction. Here is just some of the information that may be found in the hundreds of tables presented in 2010 Characteristics of New Housing, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Interesting Facts:

- The average single family house completed was 2,392 square feet.

- 35% of single family homes completed had 4 or more bedrooms. 52% of them had 3 bedrooms.

- The average sales price of new single family homes sold in the United States was $272,900. Average prices by Census Region were: Northeast $415,800; Midwest $232,800; South $244,900; and West $316,600.

- 17% of new single family homes sold had a garage that could hold 3 or more cars.

- 62% of multifamily units completed used electricity for heating fuel, while 35% used gas.

- The average square footage of multifamily units completed and built for sale was 1,388.

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Going Back to School

Do you have a student going back to school this month? The U.S. Census Bureau first collected information on the number of schools and students during the 1840 Census. That year, there were approximately 2 million students attending 50,000 schools. Today, there are more than 47 million students attending the 90,750 elementary and secondary schools in the United States.

The Census Bureau collects a variety of information on school districts, school enrollment, educational attainment, public school finances, educational services, and other related topics. For example:

• The projected number of high school diplomas that will be awarded in the 2011-12 school year is 3.2 million.

• There were 7.2 million school teachers in the United States in 2009. In 1980, public school teachers earned around $16,000 per year. In 2009, their yearly salaries averaged $53,000.

• In 2009, the per-pupil expenditure on public elementary and secondary education nationally was $10,499.

• In 1850, there were 234 colleges in the United States with an enrollment of 27,159 students. In 2007, there were 4,409 colleges and universities with 18.2 million students.

For more education-related statistics, see the Census Bureau’s Facts for Features for the 2011-2012 school year.

For more information on the history of the U.S. Census Bureau, click here.

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