Finding Census Data

Course Number:

SWK 443

Starting Points

American FactFinder

The American FactFinder is the official interface for distributing the 1990 and 2000 Census of Population and Housing, the 1997 Economic Census, and the American Community Surveys. The site is updated with new data as it becomes available to the public. FactFinder provides many options for finding, viewing, printing, and downloading various data sets. FactFinder also allows the creation of reference and thematic and maps. User-selected tables of data are downloadable in ASCII (text) or CSV (comma separated value) formats.

To find City Data, 1. Select Census Data you wish to retrieve 2. Limit to state (North Carolina) 3. Type in name of city (e.g., Wilmington) 4. Select town or city 5. Click "OK" 6. Select data file you wish to retrieve

CenStats

In addition to the free access A to Z index for CenStats publications, the CenStats service also offers online access to data that is otherwise published on CD-ROM. This service includes; county and zip code business patterns, monthly trade data, details from the publication, USA Counties, Annual Survey of Manufactures, Building Permits, Consolidated Federal Funds, and the Census Tract Street Locator.

Using the Library Catalog

Click here to search the Library Catalog

To retrieve all census materials located in the library, click on the SUBJECT tab and type in "UNITED STATES CENSUS"
For a specific census, type in UNITED STATES CENSUS and the number of the census. For example:
Type UNITED STATES CENSUS 22nd to retrieve records for the 2000 census (the 22nd census of the United States).
To find the reports for a specific state, use the subject heading [state] CENSUS 2000, e.g., NORTH CAROLINA CENSUS 2000.
To find reports on specific cities, it is best to use the KEYWORD search option. Type [city] CENSUS, e.g., WILMINGTON CENSUS or use a SUBJECT search for a county, e.g., New Hanover County (N.C.) -- Census, 9th, 1870.

Websites

Bureau of the Census

Click on "Subjects A to Z" for text reports, data tables, and some pdf images of printed reports; including some information that may not be published elsewhere.
Click on "Publications" for pdf reports.

State & County QuickFacts - U.S. Census Bureau

Use this retrieval tool to obtain, either by state, county or congressional district, general profiles (including those from the publication USA Counties), County Business Patterns Economic Profiles, or to retrieve data from the 1990 decennial census data tables using the Bureau's Data Lookup tool.

Other information

Citing Census Data

Here is an example of how to cite census data in APA format:

U.S. Census Bureau. 2000. "Census 2000 Summary File 3 (SF3) - Sample Data, Table P19 Age by Language Spoken at Home by Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over". Retrieved 25 September 2002 from U.S. Census http://factfinder.census.gov. In text Citation: (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000)