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In Internet ExplorerAccording to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, Population Estimates Program, the resident population of the United States, as of July 1, 2002, is 288,368,698.
The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program publishes July 1 estimates for years after the last decennial census (which was taken in 2000), as well as for past decades.
Population estimates produced by the U.S. Census Bureau for the nation, states, or substate areas can be found by clicking Census Overview, Population Estimates Program, and then more or get data. Long-term projections for the nation and states can be found by clicking Census Overview, Population Projections, and then more or get data.
The benchmark U.S. population from Census 2000, taken April 1, 2000, is 281,421,906.
Click Fact Sheet on the left menu of the Main page. At the top of the Fact Sheet page is the simple geographic search tool. To view information about a city, town, county, or state, type as much information as you know into the fields in the simple geographic search and click GO. The Fact Sheet will present the Census 2000 population for the geography you select.
Click Fact Sheet on the left menu of the Main page. At the top of the Fact Sheet page is the simple geographic search tool. If you would like to view information about a community then type as much information as you know about the area into the fields in the simple geographic search and click GO. If there is only one matching result, FactFinder will display it. If there are multiple results, FactFinder will show you a list of these results from which to choose.
The data on the Fact Sheet, People, Housing, and Business and Government pages are specific to the community that you select in the simple geographic search. That community will be retained as you browse FactFinder.
The census asks questions about income, homes, jobs, schooling, and even how people get to work because the decennial Census is the only data-gathering effort that collects the same information from enough people to get comparable data for every geographic area in the nation. The information is used as a basis for an accurate distribution of fiscal resources under a wide range of federal, state, local, and tribal government programs.
Census data are also used to ensure an accurate apportionment of House of Representatives seats among the states, and for the Constitutional purpose of redistricting and redrawing Congressional districts within each state.
For more information about why Census 2000 asks specific questions, visit Uses for Questions on the Census 2000 Forms.
On the Main page of FactFinder, click Decennial Census under About the Data. Detailed information about Census 2000 data products can be found in the Technical Documentation. FactFinder provides a link to the Technical Documentation for each data set on the Data Sets page.
Go to the Census Bureau's Home page and click Your Gateway to Census 2000.
The Web page for the 1990 Census of Population and Housing is: http://www.census.gov/main/www/cen1990.html. Two data sets from this census are available in American FactFinder on the Data Sets page.
The Web page that explains where to locate historical census data held by the Census Bureau is: http://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/hiscendata.html. This is where you would begin the search for any data related to any decennial census prior to 1990.
If these addresses do not work for some reason, go to the Census Bureau's Homepage, click People, and then select Historical Census Data.
The National Archives and Records Administration is the official holder of historical Census data.
There are two other historical census data sites on the Web where many of our users have located historical census data.
We ask that you accept these sites as recommendations only and realize that the Census Bureau in no way endorses them or the data they provide.
Although censuses are a source of genealogical information, the Census Bureau does not provide these data. The Census Bureau information collected by the Decennial Census about population and housing characteristics of individuals does not become available to the public until after 72 years. To be directed to websites that offer information on genealogy, visit http://www.census.gov/genealogy/www/.
American FactFinder contains data collected in Census 2000, the 1990 Census of Population and Housing and the American Community Survey. There are some data on disabilities, but none on health or vital statistics.
Information on health and vital statistics is available from the National Center for Health Statistics.The Census Bureau never planned to produce a count of the "homeless" population from Census 2000. Special procedures were designed to include in the total count people living in homeless shelters on a designated night (March 27, 2000), people receiving free meals at soup kitchens at a designated time on March 28, 2000, and people found living at designated street locations on March 29, 2000. The Census Bureau never intended these counts to be released as a total homeless count since in fact, they are not.
The Census Bureau has released a special report in October 2001 that contains sub-national counts (by State, by places of 100,000 total population and above, and by census tract) and characteristics of people enumerated in shelters (emergency and transitional) on the night of March 27, 2000. The Census Bureau does not plan to provide sub-national counts of people enumerated at soup kitchens and at outdoor locations during Census 2000.
To view this report:The Census Bureau has the following data available on homeless people for 1990 and 2000.
For data on homeless people for 1990:Homeless people are classified under: Other persons in group quarters (00N-99N): / Emergency shelters for homeless (82N, 83N) / Visible in street locations (84N, 85N)
For data on homeless people for 2000:Homeless people are classified under Type of Group Quarters / Group quarters population / Other noninstitutionalized group quarters.
For data and information about income (or any other Census 2000 topic), visit the People, Housing, or Business and Government pages of American FactFinder. To visit those pages click the appropriate selection on the left menu. For information about income, click People and then click Income and Employment. This page will refer you to a variety of resources for income data within the Census Bureau.
To find data and maps about income, click one of the links to tables or maps listed under Income on the People page.
If you are interested in finding data and information about Poverty (or any other Census 2000 topic), visit the People, Housing, or Business and Government pages of American FactFinder. To visit those pages click the appropriate selection on the left menu. To find information about poverty in Census 2000 as well as other sources at the Census Bureau:
To find data and maps about poverty, click one of the links to tables or maps listed under Poverty on the People page.
The Federal Government's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) identifies five categories of race: White; Black or African American; American Indian and Alaska Native; Asian; Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander. The Census Bureau included the category Some Other Race in Census 2000.
Some other race was included in Census 2000 for respondents who were unable to identify with the five Office of Management and Budget race categories. Respondents who provided write-in entries such as Moroccan, South African, or Belizean are included in the Some Other Race category.
For more information, see Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin 2000 (PDF - 145 KB).
The federal government considers race and Hispanic origin to be two separate and distinct concepts. For Census 2000, the questions on race and Hispanic origin were asked of every individual living in the United States. The question on Hispanic origin asked respondents if they were Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino. The question on race asked respondents to report the race or races they considered themselves to be. Both questions are based on self-identification.
People who identify their origin as Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino may be of any race.
See Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin 2000 (PDF - 145 KB) for more information.
For more information about race and Hispanic origin, click People in the left menu of FactFinder, and then click Race and Ethnicity.
The data on race in Census 2000 are not directly comparable to data collected in previous censuses. For more information on race and Hispanic origin data, click on one of the following:
You can obtain detailed race and ethnic data from Summary File 2 (SF 2) and Summary File 4 (SF 4), and ancestry data from Summary File 4.
For basic data tables and maps about race, Hispanic origin, and ethnicity, click People in the left menu of FactFinder and then scroll down to Race and Ethnicity. Here you will find many links to resources and data about race, ethnicity, and Hispanic origin.
The Census Bureau does not collect data about religion. Limited data on this topic can be found in the Statistical Abstract of the United States, tables 88-90.
You can find definitions for American FactFinder terms in two places:
You can obtain a printable list of tables for each data set by accessing the Technical Documentation for a 1990 or Census 2000 Summary File.
Data sets from the American Community Survey, Decennial Supplementary Survey, and Population Estimates have links on the Data Sets page (List all tables, About this data set) that provide lists of tables.
Some boundaries and features on American FactFinder maps may not appear until the appropriate zoom level is reached. For example, census tracts for Washington, DC appear at zoom level 5 while census tracts for Nevada appear at zoom level 8. This is true for all types of geography. In less dense areas, boundaries appear at higher zoom levels.
As more boundaries and features appear, you may have to turn off some boundaries or features to view the information that you need. Not all physical features in an area (For example; schools, churches, etc.) will be included in American FactFinder maps. Only those features that are useful to census field personnel or have been reported by local government units are included. Concerns about a missing feature should be directed to your local planning office or Census Bureau Regional Office.
You can customize the data classes for Thematic Maps:
Be sure to click the UPDATE button at the top of the page to implement any changes you make.
Quick TipsFor more information about FactFinder's maps, click the Quick Tips hyperlink located above every map.
Click Help, Table of Contents, and scroll down to Thematic Maps for detailed information about selecting themes and viewing maps.
FactFinder lets you choose from among the following methods for selecting a geographic area to display on your Reference Map.
You can use the Reference Map feature on the People, Housing, or Business and Government pages to display a reference map for a geographic area.
You can use Reference Maps on the Maps and Geography page to display a reference map for a geographic area.
Click the tab you want to use and FactFinder displays the appropriate screen.
For list and name search, begin by identifying the geographic type you want (for example, state, county, or place), then the specific area (for example Ohio, Warren County.)
Information about area size is available in the Geographic Identifiers table.
Note: In Geographic Identifiers, area characteristics are expressed in square meters.
An easy way to convert square meters to square miles is to use Google. For example: to find square miles for Alexandria, VA.
Information about the land and water area in square miles is available from the FactFinder Geographic Comparison Table GCT-PH1. You can find this table by entering gct ph1 in the Keyword Search box, and clicking GO. The results will show links to tables for the counties in Alabama as the default. You can change the geography by clicking Geography at the top of the table and then choosing the geographic areas of interest to you.
Use the simple geographic search tool on the Fact Sheet, People, Housing, and Business and Government pages, to quickly locate data for over 72,000 geographic areas in the United States and Puerto Rico.
Although you can enter any combination of street address, county, city or town, state (from drop-down list), or ZIP code, the following tips will show you which combinations lead to more successful search results.
If you are interested in data for a number of geographies associated with a single location, the fastest way to search is with a street address. There are two ways to enter a street address:
| Find a geography by street address | Example |
| Enter a street address and a ZIP code | Street address - 3 Grazing Court ZIP code - 20886 |
| Enter a street address and a city or town, and then select a state from the drop-down list |
Street address- 3 Grazing Court City or town - Montgomery Village State - Maryland |
Quick Tip: An acceptable street address can be a street intersection
If you are interested in data for a specific geography, the fastest way to search is on the geography's name.
| Find a geography by name for | Example |
| State Select a state from the drop down list |
State - New Mexico |
| County Enter name in county field Optionally, select the county's state from the drop down list |
County - orange State - California (optional) |
| City or town Enter name in city or town field Optionally, select the city or town's state from the drop down list |
City or town - East Lansing State - Michigan (optional) |
| ZIP code Enter a 5-digit code in ZIP code field |
ZIP code - 20998 |
If your search criteria match multiple geographies, you'll need to choose one geography from the search result list.
Quick Tip: To start over, click Clear to reset all search fields.
This is because the Census Bureau may not recognize a location as a place. For a location to be recognized as a place by the Census Bureau, it must meet the criteria for either a Census Designated Place (CDP) or an Incorporated Place. Not all populated places meet these criteria.
To find census data for a location that is not recognized, you will need to associate the location with a census geographic entity (for which census data is collected) such as a census tract.
If you have a street address for the location, click street address in the Search box on the left menu and enter the street address. The results will tell you all of the Census geographies in which the address falls. Your results will include items such as census tracts, and places.
Select one of the geographic areas and you will get results for tables (which will include the population) or reference maps (so you can see the boundaries) or thematic maps.
Check the reference map to ensure that the boundaries are the same.
If you don't have an address on which to search, you could start with the
Reference Maps. Click Maps and Geography on the left menu, and then click Reference Maps. Locate the area of interest on the map of the U.S. by zooming in on the area.
Another option would be to refer to the U.S. Census Bureau's Guide to Census Tract Resources.
The results from Census 2000 include ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs), which are approximations of ZIP Codes that follow census block boundaries. A ZCTA is established by taking a census block and determining which ZIP Code occurs most frequently within that census block. It is assigned a three digit and five digit ZCTA based on this information. American FactFinder has data at the three-digit and five-digit ZCTA level for standard residential ZIP Codes.
For a detailed explanation of ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, visit http://www.census.gov/geo/ZCTA/zcta.html.
Postal ZIP Codes associated with Post Office box numbers and those assigned individually to businesses will not appear in FactFinder. If you have some question about the status of the ZIP Code you are inquiring about, please see http://www.usps.com/ncsc/lookups/lookup_ctystzip.html. This site is maintained by the United States Postal Service and will indicate whether a ZIP Code is standard, unique or for P O Boxes only.