May 2001

Access to and usage of newly-released Census 2000 data

Speaker: Juanita Britton, Census Partnership Specialist, Philadelphia Regional Office, U.S. Census Bureau.

Ms. Britton gave a Power Point presentation on the U.S. Census Bureau's American Fact Finder (AFF) software, which is available online at [http://factfinder.census.gov], or through the Census' main site, [http://www.census.gov].

A relational database most easily accessible through the Internet Explorer browser, AFF organizes data from the Decennial Census, the Economic Census and the American Community Survey into data sets such as demographic profiles and Geographic Comparison Tables. Ms. Britton explained that currently, only Summary File 1 information - comprising the results of questions 1-7 on the Census 2000 short form - is available through AFF. The more detailed information represented by Summary Files 2&3 will be incorporated into AFF as it becomes available.

In addition to her explanation of AFF usage, Ms. Britton also provided the following information:


• Census 200 data was compiled according to geographical tracts and address blocks. Therefore non-citizens, individuals in transitional living situations and incarcerated individuals were among the groups whose information was counted in the Census.


• The Census Bureau plans to compile "long form" data on a more frequent basis by using the American Community Survey. Congressional approval is pending.


• Economic Census data is compiled every five years. Currently, Economic Census data from 1997 is available through AFF.