Most of the demographic and employment data in this report are derived from the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplements (ASEC), which is conducted in March of every year. Conducted jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the CPS is a monthly survey of approximately 60,000 households and is the source of the nation’s official statistics on unemployment. The ASEC survey in March features a larger sample size. Data on income and poverty from the ASEC survey serve as the basis for the well-known Census Bureau report on income and poverty in the United States. The Census Bureau’s historical tables on the living arrangements of children are also based on the ASEC.
The CPS is representative of the civilian non-institutionalized population. The ASEC survey has been collected since 1947 but samples before 1968 do not include persons younger than 14.
The school and college enrollment information is derived from the annual school enrollment supplement to the CPS. Conducted during October, the Census Bureau has collected enrollment data since 1945. The October CPS is a standard source for measuring high school dropout rates and college enrollment and is the basis for the bureau’s historical tables on high school completion and college-going.
The CPS microdata used in this report are the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) provided by the University of Minnesota. IPUMS assigns uniform codes, to the extent possible, to data collected in the CPS over the years. More information about IPUMS, including variable definitions and sampling error, is available at http://cps.ipums.org/cps/documentation.shtml.
Estimates of the racial and ethnic origins of post-Millennials for Census regions and urban, suburban and rural counties utilized the 2017 population estimates of the Census Bureau. The bureau provides a special tabulation file of county population estimates by single year of age, race and ethnicity.
