Census Bureau: Difference between revisions

|OrganizationName=Census Bureau

The '''United States Census Bureau''' ('''USCB'''), officially the '''Bureau of the Census''', is a principal agency of the [[Federal Statistical System of the United States|U.S. Federal Statistical System]], responsible for producing data about the [[American people]] and [[American economy|economy]]. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the [[United States Department of Commerce|U.S. Department of Commerce]] and its [[Director of the United States Census Bureau|director]] is appointed by the [[President of the United States]]. Currently, [[Robert Santos]] is the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau and Ron S. Jarmin is the Deputy Director.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-03-11 |title=U.S. Census Bureau |url=https://www.commerce.gov/bureaus-and-offices/census |access-date=2024-04-28 |website=U.S. Department of Commerce |language=en}}</ref>

The United States Census Bureau defines four statistical regions, with nine divisions.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/geo/www/us_regdiv.pdf|access-date=February 3, 2016|author=United States Census Bureau, Geography Division|title=Census Regions and Divisions of the United States|url-status=dead|archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20130107113900/http://www.census.gov/geo/www/us_regdiv.pdf|archive-date=January 7, 2013}}</ref> The Census Bureau regions are "widely used...for data collection and analysis".<ref name=NEMS>"The National Energy Modeling System: An Overview 2003" (Report #:DOE/EIA-0581, October 2009). United States Department of Energy, [[Energy Information Administration]].</ref> The Census Bureau definition is pervasive.<ref>"The most widely used regional definitions follow those of the U.S. Bureau of the Census." Seymour Sudman and Norman M. Bradburn, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=8Ay2AAAAIAAJ Asking Questions: A Practical Guide to Questionnaire Design] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160515042215/https://books.google.com/books?id=8Ay2AAAAIAAJ |date=May 15, 2016 }}'' (1982). [[Jossey-Bass]]: p. 205.</ref><ref>"Perhaps the most widely used regional classification system is one developed by the U.S. Census Bureau." Dale M. Lewison, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=oPUJAQAAMAAJ Retailing] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160521063523/https://books.google.com/books?id=oPUJAQAAMAAJ&dq=ISBN9780134614274 |date=May 21, 2016 }}'', [[Prentice Hall]] (1997): p. 384. {{ISBN|978-0-13-461427-4}}</ref><ref>"(M)ost demographic and food consumption data are presented in this four-region format." Pamela Goyan Kittler, Kathryn P. Sucher, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=eKdbaMY5AHEC&pg=PA475 Food and Culture] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161204040905/https://books.google.com/books?id=eKdbaMY5AHEC&lpg=PA475&pg=PA475 |date=December 4, 2016 }}'', [[Cengage Learning]] (2008): p. 475. {{ISBN|978-0495115410}}</ref> The [[Territories of the United States|territories]] are not included, but the [[Washington, D.C.|District of Columbia]] is.

** Division 1: [[New England]] ([[Connecticut]], [[Maine]], [[Massachusetts]], [[New Hampshire]], [[Rhode Island]], and [[Vermont]])

** Division 2: [[Mid-Atlantic States|Mid-Atlantic]] ([[New Jersey]], [[New York (state)|New York]], and [[Pennsylvania]])

** Division 3: [[East North Central States|East North Central]] ([[Illinois]], [[Indiana]], [[Michigan]], [[Ohio]], and [[Wisconsin]])

** Division 4: [[West North Central States|West North Central]] ([[Iowa]], [[Kansas]], [[Minnesota]], [[Missouri]], [[Nebraska]], [[North Dakota]], and [[South Dakota]])

** Division 5: [[South Atlantic States|South Atlantic]] ([[Delaware]], the [[Washington, D.C.|District of Columbia]], [[Florida]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], [[Maryland]], [[North Carolina]], [[South Carolina]], [[Virginia]], and [[West Virginia]])

** Division 6: [[East South Central States|East South Central]] ([[Alabama]], [[Kentucky]], [[Mississippi (state)|Mississippi]], and [[Tennessee]])

** Division 7: [[West South Central States|West South Central]] ([[Arkansas]], [[Louisiana]], [[Oklahoma]], and [[Texas]])

** Division 8: [[Mountain States|Mountain]] ([[Arizona]], [[Colorado]], [[Idaho]], [[Montana]], [[Nevada]], [[New Mexico]], [[Utah]], and [[Wyoming]])

** Division 9: [[Pacific States|Pacific]] ([[Alaska]], [[California]], [[Hawaii]], [[Oregon]], and [[Washington (state)|Washington]])

Despite these guarantees of confidentiality, the Census Bureau has some history of disclosures to other government agencies. In 1918, the Census Bureau released individual information regarding several hundred young men to the Justice Department and [[Selective Service]] system for the purpose of prosecutions for draft evasion.<ref>{{citation |url=http://aascpress.metapress.com/content/jk115283m54v4313/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120701170027/http://aascpress.metapress.com/content/jk115283m54v4313/ |url-status=dead|archive-date=July 1, 2012|journal=[[Amerasia Journal]] |publisher=[[UCLA Asian American Studies Center]] Press|issn=0044-7471|volume=8|number=2|date=Fall–Winter 1981|pages=111–120|title=The Myth of Census Confidentiality |doi=10.17953/amer.8.2.jk115283m54v4313|last1=Okamura|first1=Raymond Y.}}</ref><ref>{{citation|url=https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/census-confidentiality-checks-is-mail|title=Census Confidentiality? The Check's in the Mail|author=David Kopel|date=May 4, 1990|publisher=[[Cato Institute]]|author-link=David Kopel|access-date=February 9, 2020|archive-date=August 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805183101/https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/census-confidentiality-checks-is-mail|url-status=live}}</ref> During [[World War II]], the United States Census Bureau assisted the government's [[Japanese American internment]] efforts by providing confidential neighborhood information on [[Japanese-Americans]]. The bureau's role was denied for decades but was finally proven in 2007.<ref>{{citation|title=Confirmed: The U.S. Census Bureau Gave Up Names of Japanese-Americans in WW II|url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=confirmed-the-us-census-b&sc=I100322|work=[[Scientific American]]|author=JR Minkel|date=March 30, 2007|access-date=March 20, 2010|archive-date=August 29, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130829181345/http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=confirmed-the-us-census-b&sc=I100322|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{citation |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-30-census-role_N.htm |title=Papers show Census role in WWII camps |work=USA Today |author=Haya El Nasser |date=March 30, 2007 |access-date=September 17, 2017 |archive-date=August 26, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120826005305/http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-30-census-role_N.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

United States census data are valuable for the country's political parties; Democrats and [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]] are highly interested in knowing the accurate number of persons in their respective districts.<ref>{{cite book|last=Nobles|first=Melissa|date=2000|title=Shades of Citizenship: Race and the Census in Modern Politics|location=Stanford, CA|publisher=Stanford University Press|page=ix|isbn=9780804740135}}</ref> These insights are often linked to financial and economic strategies that are central to federal, state and city investments for locations of particular populations.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Breiman|first1=Leo|date=1994|title=The 1991 Census Adjustment: Undercount or Bad Data?|journal=[[Statist. Sci.]]|volume=9|issue=4|pages=458–475|doi=10.1214/ss/1177010259|doi-access=free}}</ref> Such apportionments are designed to distribute political power across neutral spatial allocations; however, "because so much is at stake, the census also runs the risk of being politicized."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Anderson|first1=Margo|last2=Fienberg|first2=Stephen|date=1999|title=Who Counts?: The Politics of Census-Taking in Contemporary America|jstor=10.7758/9781610440059|publisher=[[Russell Sage Foundation]]|page=17|isbn=978-1-61044-005-9}}</ref>

> [[32 Old Slip|New York City]], Philadelphia, Chicago, [[Atlanta]], [[Denver]], and Los Angeles. The National Processing Center is in [[Jeffersonville, Indiana]]. Additional temporary processing facilities facilitate the decennial census, which employs more than a million people. The cost of the 2000 census was $4.5 billion. During the years just prior to the decennial census, parallel census offices, known as "Regional Census Centers" are opened in the field office cities. The decennial operations are carried out from these facilities. The Regional Census Centers oversee the openings and closings of smaller "Area Census Offices" within their collection jurisdictions. In 2020, Regional Census Centers oversaw the operation of 248 Area Census Offices,<ref>{{cite web|last=United States Census Bureau|date=December 31, 2018|title=2020 Census Operational Plan v4.0|url=https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial/2020/program-management/planning-docs/2020-oper-plan4.pdf|access-date=January 20, 2021|website=Census.gov|archive-date=August 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802113646/https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial/2020/program-management/planning-docs/2020-oper-plan4.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The estimated cost of the 2010 census is $14.7 billion.

** [[Statistical area (United States)|Primary statistical area]] ([[List of primary statistical areas of the United States|list]])

** [[Combined statistical area]] ([[List of combined statistical areas|list]])

** [[Core-based statistical area]] ([[List of core-based statistical areas|list]])

 

** [[List of United States urban areas]]