Demographic Research

The poverty rate for Hispanics was 28.2% in 2010, higher than it was for blacks, non-Hispanic whites or Asians, and higher than the official poverty rate for Hispanics, 26.7%, reported by the Census Bureau.

The Census Bureau today released its first estimates of the number of same-sex married couples in the U.S., as well as alternatives counts to the published data for same-sex unmarried couples that try to account for data-processing issues.

The Census Bureau today released data from the 2010 American Community Survey that expands on the basic demographics in the 2010 Census. Links to the data and special reports are included in this posting.

Pew Research Center reports can add context to the Census Bureau's release of 2010 data on U.S. income, poverty and health insurance coverage. These Pew Research Center reports, linked to in this article, have documented the impact of the Great Recession and shaky recovery on Americans’ wealth, work lives, personal finances and emotional well-being.

Census data can be used to measure change since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, as illustrated by a Wall Street Journal story about lower Manhattan. The Census Bureau itself has published a case study of how one group used census data to argue successfully for an expanded relief-distribution zone in New York's Chinatown.

This posting discusses the challenges for the Census Bureau in counting same-sex couples, married and unmarried. The accuracy of data depends on responses in Census Bureau questionnaires and bureau procedures to collect and edit responses, and the posting describes both.

A workshop that brought together Census Bureau staff and expert users to discuss the bureau's American Community Survey produced the finding that the survey's greatest asset is its local-level data, but that users are concerned about the large margins of error associated with those small-area estimates. Users and Census Bureau staff also discussed possible changes to the survey and bureau outreach to users.

Some users of Census data may be surprised to learn what the 2010 Census did not ask, because many detailed items about demographics, economics and housing now are included in the American Community Survey. This posting includes a link to an article by sociologist Andrew Beveridge about the differences between Census 2010 and the ACS, as well as links to questionnaire forms.

New York City filed its official challenge to 2010 Census results today, stating that the count missed at least 50,000 people, in large part because occupied units were erroneously termed vacant.

A new Population Reference Bureau report summarizes key findings from the first wave of Census 2010 data, including trends in the population of children, as well as race and ethnic groups. The Brookings Institution recently published reports using 2010 Census data to discuss aging and race and ethnic change.