Random Samplings

The Funding of our State and Local Governments

Written by: Lisa M. Blumerman and Jeffrey L. Barnett, Governments Division, US Census Bureau

These days the health of our state and local governments is a topic that is much debated. Are our state and local governments solvent? Will they continue to be able to provide the services we expect and depend on?  Will our state and local governments be the next housing crisis? Or is the reality somewhere in between?

The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2009 Annual Surveys of State and Local Government Finances provide a look at the revenues, assets, expenditures, and debt of our nation’s governments.  These data help us better understand the fiscal health of our governments and allow us to begin to answer the questions above.

In order to understand the health of our governments, we must first understand how they are funded – or where the revenue comes from. Once that foundation is built, we can then understand how they spend our money. (See figure: Revenue of State and Local Governments: 2009).

State and local government revenues declined 22.1 percent from 2008 to receipts of $2.1 trillion in 2009. The general revenue funds of state and local governments totaled $2.4 trillion in 2009. As shown in the figure above, the major components of general revenue for state and local governments in 2009 were taxes (52.7 percent), federal support (22.2 percent) and charges (16.1 percent).

Taxes are the principal source of general revenue for our governments comprising 47.8 percent of general revenue for state governments and 39.5 percent of general revenue for local governments in 2009. Overall, tax revenue declined by 4.5 percent for all governments to

$1.3 trillion in 2009. This decline was driven by declines in receipt of monies from individual income and corporate taxes (11.3 and 19.2 percent, respectively). 

State and local governments differ in their dependence on federal funding for their support. In 2009, state governments received 31.8 percent of their general revenue from the federal government; whereas, local governments received 4.3 percent of their general revenue directly as federal support.  [Note, local governments receive a considerable amount of funding as “pass-through” funding from their state government. This funding originated at the federal level but because it “passes through” the state it is accounted for as state revenue in our data.]

The rest of the funding of our state and local governments comes from a variety of sources (as shown above), including current charges, utility revenue, liquor store revenue and insurance trust revenue. Typically, at the state level, insurance trust revenue (or revenue from investments related to state government pension and other trust funds) is the next largest generator of funds. However, this was not the case in 2009. In 2009, current charges was the next largest generator of funds at $161.2 billion. Insurance trust revenue declined in 2009. For both state and local governments, current charges generated $388.8 billion in 2009.

That is the picture of how our state and local governments generate the monies they need to provide us with services. Coming soon, “Your Tax Dollars at Work: How our State and Local Governments Spend our Money.”

These statistics are available for all state and local governments. To understand your governments’ finances for 2009, visit our website. 

Read the press release.

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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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Green Stats

Earth Day is Friday, April 22. To help you celebrate, we offer a sampling of green data collected and published by the US Census Bureau.

According to the American Community Survey (5-year estimates):

• 0.5% of Americans bike to and from work. More men bike to work than women (0.7% vs. 0.3%).
• 10.5% of U.S. residents carpool to work. Men are more likely to carpool than women (11% vs. 10%).
• 5% of U.S. residents take public transportation to work. Women are more likely to take public transportation (5.4% vs. 4.6%).
• About 36,000 households in the United States rely on solar energy to heat their homes.

In 2009, according to data from the American Community Survey, the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island metropolitan area lead the nation in percent of workers who commuted by public transportation at 30.5%, followed by the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metro area, with 14.6%.

The Census Bureau’s 2011 Statistical Abstract is an excellent source for additional green stats, including on Energy & Utilities: Solar and Renewable Energy, Emissions.

Did you know?

• In 2008, Washington state led the nation in hydro-electric energy generation and Texas was the top U.S. source of wind power.
• Additional states leading renewable energy generation in the U.S. included: California, Idaho, Maine, Montana, New York and Oregon.

The Statistical Abstract also includes data on:

• Geography & Environment: Air Quality
• Threatened and Endangered Wildlife and Plant Species
• Emissions Of Greenhouse Gases by Type and Source

The US Census Bureau is doing more than collecting data on the environment. Our green initiatives include:

• 2010 Census forms were printed on paper with 30 percent recycled content.
• The Census Bureau cafeteria uses biodegradable plates, green drinking cups, and recycled soup containers and napkins. Our cooking oil is recycled to make gasoline.
• Approximately 40% of the Census Bureau’s printers are set for duplex printing – printing on two sides of the paper – saving hundreds of thousands sheets of paper.
• Recycled paper at the Census Bureau is processed at the Arlington Resource and Recovery Facility where it is converted to help generate over 23 megawatts of renewable energy used for heating homes, schools and businesses.

How are you celebrating Earth Day this year? Did we miss any “green stats?” Share them here!

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