U.S. Census releases 2010 demographic profiles

On Wednesday, May 4, 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau started releasing the 2010 Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics for the District of Columbia, Florida, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.

The demographic profiles provide 2010 Census data on age and sex distributions, race, Hispanic or Latino origin, household relationship and type, the group quarters population, and housing occupancy and tenure (whether the housing occupant owns or rents). Throughout May, these profiles will be released on a rolling basis for all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

The profile includes more than 150 data items in all, plus percentage distributions. Highlights from the State of Florida data released on Wednesday include:

Florida

• The median age was 40.7.
• The average household size was 2.48 people per household.
• Among the state's occupied housing units, 67.4 percent were owned, compared with 32.6 percent that were rented.

In addition to the state-level data, demographic profiles are available for other areas down to the place/functioning minor civil division-level. Profiles for the nation, regions and divisions will be available at the end of May with the final states' releases.

 

The characteristics data found in the demographic profiles will be available for additional levels of geography, such as census tracts or blocks, as part of the next 2010 Census data product, Summary File 1, to be released on a state-by-state flow basis between June and August.

 

Accessing the Data

 

The demographic profiles can be found on the Census Bureau's American FactFinder website at http://factfinder2.census.gov

 

A summary file version of the profile data is also available for users who want to download the data set for all of the geographies within the 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 the data file (in comma-separated ASCII format). The summary file is available for download at http://www2.census.gov/census_2010/03-Demographic_Profile/.

 

For local context, contact your State Data Center: www.census.gov/sdc/network.html.