The U.S. Census Bureau today released new, detailed demographic information from the 2010 Census for the District of Columbia, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan and South Carolina.
These Summary File 1 tables provide the most detailed counts available so far from the 2010 Census, including cross-tabulations of age, sex, households, families, relationship to householder, housing units, detailed race and Hispanic or Latino origin groups, and group quarters. The statistics are available for a variety of geographic areas, with most tables available down to the block or census tract level.
What’s Unique in Summary File 1
Summary File 1 provides new layers of detail about the topics covered in the 2010 Census and cross-tabulates many of these topics to provide a more nuanced picture. Beyond just providing counts of families, for example, the summary file also shows the number of families by type, by the age of the children present and by race and Hispanic origin of the householder.
Many of the tables are repeated for nine race and Hispanic or Latino origin groups: white alone, black or African-American alone, American Indian and Alaska Native alone, Asian alone, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, some other race, two or more races, Hispanic or Latino, and white alone not Hispanic or Latino.
New topics include:
• Single year of age by sex
• More detail on children, including adopted, stepchildren and grandchildren
• Race and Hispanic origin of householder
• More detail on household relationships
• Group quarters population by sex, age and group quarters type
• Housing tenure (rented or owned) by age, household type, race and Hispanic origin of householder
• Mortgage status of owned housing units
Counts about previously unreleased race and Hispanic or Latino origin groups are also available, including:
• American Indian and Alaska Native tribal groupings, such as Cheyenne, Navajo and Yup’ik
• Asian groups, such as Bangladeshi, Hmong and Pakistani
• Hispanic origin groups, such as Argentinean, Colombian and Guatemalan
• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander groups, such as Fijian, Marshallese and Tongan
Geographies Available
With today’s release, tables are available for states, counties, county subdivisions, places, census tracts, ZIP code tabulation areas, congressional districts for the 111th Congress and, where applicable, American Indian and Alaska Native areas and Hawaiian home lands. For most subjects, statistics for census block groups and blocks are also shown.
Comparing Summary File 1 with the 2000 Census
To assist with comparing the 2010 Census statistics with the 2000 Census, a topical cross-walk of table numbers from the two censuses is available at http://2010.census.gov/news/press-kits/summary-file-1.html. The cross-walk provides a quick reference table for users who want to know which 2000 Census tables correspond to 2010 Census Summary File 1 tables.
Accessing the Information
The Summary File 1 tables can be found on the Census Bureau’s American FactFinder website at http://factfinder.census.gov. A good place to start is the quick tables (noted as “QT” in the search results list), which show a summary of a particular topic for one geographic area at a time. The geographic comparison tables (noted as “GCT”) are a good place to start for a first look at a topic across geographies, such as all places within a state.
A summary file version of the information is also available for users who want to download the set of detailed tables for all of the geographies within a state and run their own analysis and rankings. The summary file contains two parts: a file with the geographic headers (in fixed-length ASCII format) and a file with the statistical information (in comma-separated ASCII format). The summary file is available for download at http://www2.census.gov/census_2010/04-Summary_File_1/.
For local context, contact your state data center: http://www.census.gov/sdc/network.html.
Editor’s note: Summary File 1 will be publicly available via FTP at 12:01 a.m. EDT, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2011 and in American FactFinder by 10 a.m. EDT Thursday, Aug. 18, 2011.