The
Twenty-Second United States CensusThe United States Census is a decennial census mandated by the United States Constitution. The population is enumerated every 10 years and the results are used to allocate Congressional seats , electoral votes, and government program funding...
, known as
Census 2000 and conducted by the
Census BureauThe United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data. As part of the United States Department of Commerce, the Census Bureau serves as the leading source of quality data about...
, determined the resident population of the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons
enumeratedIn mathematics and theoretical computer science, the broadest and most abstract definition of an enumeration of a set is an exact listing of all of its elements . The restrictions imposed on the type of list used depend on the branch of mathematics and the context in which one is working...
during the
1990 CensusThe Twenty-first United States Census, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 248,709,873, an increase of 9.8 percent over the 226,545,805 persons enumerated during the 1980 Census....
. This was the twenty-second federal census and the largest single civil administrative peacetime effort in the history of the United States.
Approximately 16 percent of households received a "long form" of the 2000 census, which contained over 100 questions. Full documentation on the 2000 census, including census forms and a procedural history, is available from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series.
Data availability
MicrodataIn the study of survey/census data, microdata is information at the level of individual respondents. For instance, a national census might collect age, home address, educational level, employment status, and many other variables, recorded separately for every person who responds; this is...
from the 2000 census is freely available through the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series.
Aggregate dataIn statistics, aggregate data describes data combined from several measurements.In economics, aggregate data or data aggregates describes high-level data that is composed of a multitude or combination of other more individual data....
for small areas, together with electronic boundary files, can be downloaded from the
National Historical Geographic Information SystemThe National Historical Geographic Information System is a historical GIS project to create and freely disseminate a database incorporating all available aggregate census information for the United States between 1790 and 2000...
.
Population profile
The U.S. resident population includes the total number of people in the 50 states and the
District of ColumbiaWashington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
. The Bureau also enumerated the residents of the
CommonwealthFree association may refer to:*Free association , a clinical technique of psychoanalysis devised by Sigmund Freud*Free Association, David Holmes group for the Code 46 soundtrack...
of
Puerto RicoPuerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is a self-governing unincorporated territory of the United States located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands...
; its population was 3,808,610, an 8.1% increase over the number from a decade earlier.
- See also Race
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Federal Office of Management and Budget , are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
.
In an introduction to a more detailed population profile (see references below), the Census Bureau highlighted the following facts about U.S population dynamics:
- 75.1% of respondents said they were White or Caucasian
White American is an umbrella term officially employed by the United States Census Bureau, Office of Management and Budget and other U.S...
and no other race;
- 21.36% (60 million Americans) are of German
The German people are an ethnic group, in the sense of sharing a common German culture, descent, and speaking the German language as a mother tongue. Within Germany, Germans are defined by citizenship , distinguished from people of German ancestry...
descent; German Americans
- 12.3% are of Black or African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry...
descent;
- Hispanics — who may belong to any race — accounted for 12.5% of the U.S. population, up from 9% in 1990;
- 3.6% of respondents are Asian
{Infobox Ethnic group|group = Asian American|image =Graduation Rate! align="CENTER" | Bachelor's Degree
or More|-| align="LEFT" | Asian Indians| align="RIGHT" | 90.2%| align="RIGHT" | 67.9%|-| align="LEFT" | Filipinos| align="RIGHT" | 90.8%...
;
- 2.4% of respondents are multiracial
The terms multiracial and mixed-race describe people whose ancestries come from multiple races.-Definitions of multiraciality:While defining race is controversial and rejected by some specialists in human genetics,...
(2 or more races). The 2000 Census was the first time survey options for multiracial Americans were provided.
- Between 1990 and 2000, the population aged 45 to 54 grew by 49% and those aged 85 and older grew 38%;
- Women outnumber men two to one among those aged 85 and older;
- Almost one in five adults had some type of disability
Americans with disabilities comprise one of the largest minority groups in the United States. According to the Disability Status: 2000 - Census 2000 Brief , approximately 20% of Americans have one or more diagnosed psycho-physical disability.¹ This percentage varies depending on how disabilities...
in 1997 and the likelihood of having a disability increased with age;
- Families (as opposed to men or women living alone) still dominate American households, but less so than they did thirty years ago;
- Since 1993, both families and nonfamilies have seen median household incomes rise, with "households headed by a woman without a spouse present" growing the fastest;
- People in married-couple families have the lowest poverty
The most common measure of poverty in the United States is the "poverty threshold" set by the U.S. government. This measure recognizes poverty as a lack of those goods and services commonly taken for granted by members of mainstream society. The official threshold is adjusted for inflation using...
rates;
- The poor of any age are more likely than others to lack health insurance
Health insurance is insurance that pays for medical expenses. It is sometimes used more broadly to include insurance covering disability or long-term nursing or custodial care needs. It may be provided through a government-sponsored social insurance program, or from private insurance companies...
coverage;
- The number of elementary
A primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as primary or elementary education. Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth Nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational,...
and high schoolSecondary education is the stage of education following primary school. Secondary education is generally the final stage of compulsory education. However, secondary education in some countries includes a period of compulsory and a period of non-compulsory education. The next stage of education is...
students in 2000 fell just short of the all-time high of 49 million reached in 1970;
- Improvements in educational attainment cross racial and ethnic lines; and
- The majority (52%) of U.S. households have access to computers
Home computer was a class of personal computer entering the market in 1977 and becoming increasingly common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as accessible personal computers, more capable than video game consoles...
; 41% have Internet access-History and types of connections:Common methods of Internet access include dial-up, landline , T- lines, Wi-Fi, satellite and cell phones....
.
Changes in population
Regionally, the South and West picked up the bulk of the nation's population increase, 14,790,890 and 10,411,850, respectively. This meant that the
mean center of U.S. populationThe mean center of U.S. population is determined by the United States Census Bureau from the results of each census. The Bureau defines it to be:...
moved to
Phelps County, MissouriPhelps County is a county located in South Central Missouri in the United States.According to the U.S. Census Bureau, it includes the mean center of U.S. population in 2000. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the county's population was 39,825. A 2008 estimate, however, showed the population to be 42,205....
. The Northeast grew by 2,785,149; the Midwest by 4,724,144.
(maps not to scale)
Reapportionment
The results of the census are used to determine how many
congressional districtA congressional district is an electoral constituency that elects a single member of a congress. Countries with congressional districts include the United States, the Philippines, and Japan...
s each state is
apportionedUnited States congressional apportionment is the process by which seats in the United States House of Representatives are redistributed amongst the 50 states following each constitutionally mandated decennial census. Each state is apportioned a number of seats which approximately corresponds to its...
. Congress defines the formula, in accordance with Title 2 of the U.S. Code, to reapportion among the states the 435 seats in the
United States House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives, commonly referred to as the "House," is the lower house of the bicameral United States Congress, the upper house being the United States Senate. The composition and powers of the House and the Senate are established in Article One of the Constitution...
. The apportionment population consists of the resident population of the fifty states, plus the overseas military and federal civilian employees and their dependents living with them who could be allocated to a state. Each member of the House represents a population of about 647,000. The populations of the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are excluded from the apportionment population because they do not have voting seats in the U. S. House of Representatives.
Since the first census in 1790, the decennial count has been the basis for the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
representative form of government. Article I, Section II specifies that "The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative." In 1790, each member of the House represented about 34,000 residents. Since then, the House more than quadrupled in size, and in 1911 the
number of representativesUnited States congressional apportionment is the process by which seats in the United States House of Representatives are redistributed amongst the 50 states following each constitutionally mandated decennial census. Each state is apportioned a number of seats which approximately corresponds to its...
was fixed at 435. Today, each member represents about 19 times as many constituents.
Adjustment controversy
In the years leading up to the 2000 census, there was substantial controversy over whether the Bureau should adjust census figures based on a follow-up survey, called the post-enumeration survey, of a sample of blocks. (In 1999, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the Constitution prohibits the use of such figures for apportionment purposes, but it may be permissible for other purposes where feasible.) The controversy was partly technical, but also partly political, since based on data from the 1990 census both parties believed that adjustment would likely have the effect, after redistricting, of slightly increasing Democratic representation in legislative bodies, but would also give Utah an additional, probably Republican, representative to Congress.
Following the census, discrepancies between the adjusted census figures and demographic estimates of population change could not be resolved in time to meet legal deadlines for the provision of redistricting data, and the Census Bureau therefore recommended that the unadjusted results be used for this purpose. This recommendation was followed by the Secretary of Commerce (the official in charge of making the determination).
Utah controversy
After the census was tabulated,
UtahUtah is a western state of the United States. It was the 45th state admitted to the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80 percent of Utah's 2,736,424 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering around Salt Lake City. In contrast, vast expanses of the state are nearly uninhabited, making...
challenged the results in two different ways. Utah was extremely close to gaining a fourth congressional seat, falling 857 people short, which in turn was allocated to
North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties...
. The margin was later shortened to 80 people, after the federal government discovered that it overcounted the population of North Carolina by 2,673 residents. The Census Bureau counted members of the military and other federal civilian employees serving abroad as residents of their home state but did not count other individuals living outside the United States. Utah claimed that individuals traveling abroad as religious missionaries should be counted as residents and that the failure to do so imposed a burden on
Mormon