Talk:United States Census

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[edit] IBM and the census

IBM's first electronic computer was created primarily to deal with the needs of the census in addition to military and academic uses.

Does this really need to be in the section with the 1890 census? -- anonymous posting at 19:54, 2 May 2005 (UTC)

The comment certainly belongs in this article, as it's important to know that the U.S. census helped early drive the development of computers. I think the real problem is that the sectioning into "nth Census of the United States" just doesn't work. I suspect that when that gets fixed, the text you mention will get moved to a more appropriate section. — DLJessup 14:48, 3 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Constitutionally mandated?

I did a quick search through the Wikisource of the Constitution for "census" and the list of powers of Congress, but found 2 mentions and none stated there MUST be a census, unless there was an inferred meaning. Anyone else know? Thanx 68.39.174.91 19:57, 11 July 2005 (UTC)

Article 1, Section 2: "The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct." The "Enumeration" is what we refer to as the Census. — DLJessup 20:13, 11 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Move

Can't do it without an admin, though. —Mark Adler (markles) 13:15, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

Speedied. —Nightstallion (?) 13:58, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What data is collected?

A great thing to add to this article would be what questions are asked/what data is collected. Right now I'm trying to find if religious information is taken in the census, but having an exact list would be even more benificial. Wizard191 22:37, 22 February 2006 (UTC)


Religion questions are not asked. The "short form" asks for your name, sex, age and birthdate, tenure (own or rent), race, Hispanic origin. To be able to apportion representatives, the Census Bureau needs to report how many people live where. The reason for name, age, etc. is to ensure that each person is counted once. Get a hold of the 2000 "long form" for the questions to see the questions that are typically asked. --SilverWoodchuck47 01:32, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Estimates between Official Census

I think it would be beneficial for this article and many other articles if there could be some information added regarding intermediate censuses (e.g., "2004 Census"). Frequently, (as of 3/26/06), articles cite the 2005 population. For example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Houston

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_metropolitan_area

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix%2C_Arizona

The official census website [1] frequently lists a 2004 census as semi-official. I haven't found any official 2005 estimates though.

Does anyone know the standards for these intermediate censuses? Methods used? Links to them? I think this would be helpful to many wikipedia articles. User:24.175.64.6

Censuses between the decennial censuses are "test censuses." They are used to evaluate new questions, evaluate rewording of questions, and to try and incorporate new technologies and procedures. The Census Bureau is always to trying to improve data collection quality. There was a 2004 test census and a 2005 test census. There is currently a 2006 test census (data for which won't be available until early next year, I believe) and there will be a 2008 Dress Rehearsal Census. What do you mean by "standards" and "methods?"--SilverWoodchuck47 01:41, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

When does the census become public domain? "Title 13 assures complete confidentiality for all records in the Bureau’s custody. Once the records are passed to the custody of the National Archives, the Archives can then release them for public use when the records are 72 years old." (http://www.gao.gov/archive/1998/gg98103.pdf) SilverWoodchuck47 (talk) 02:16, 20 March 2008 (UTC)SilverWoodchuck47

[edit] Huge gaps in this article

This article does not contain information on:

--The recent decision to distribute only short questionnaires during census years and issue long questionnaires only as part of the American Community Survey during intervening years.

--The Second War Powers Act of 1942, which allowed the Census Bureau to give data on individuals to any government agency when needed for "the conduct of the war." This data had been gathered under a promise of confidentiality. The director of the Census Bureau lobbied for the change, and the government took advantage of it to gather the names and addresses of Japanese and Japanese-Americans living in the U.S. The Census Bureau consistently denied that it had ever released data on individuals during the war until such release was recently documented.

--The Census Bureau's active cooperation in fast-tracking data for government agencies to identify neighborhoods containing Japanese-Americans so they could be rounded up for internment during World War II. After 9/11, the Census Bureau did the same for the Department of Homeland Security to identify neighborhoods where Arab-Americans live.

--The proportion of census questionnaires that are not returned and the Census Bureau's attempts to counteract that trend.

--A sample or description of questions in the most recent short and long questionnaires.

Steve Emmons 08:43, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Eleventh census

"This census is also notable for the fact it is the only one of three for which the original data is no longer available. " Only one of three? Rich Farmbrough, 20:09 1 November 2007 (GMT).

[edit] Gaps!

What happened to the 1950, 60, 70, 80, and 90 US censuses? They're gone! AKleinberg (talk) 16:50, 9 February 2008 (UTC)

They're linked via the template at the bottom of the screen. Looks like no one found anything interesting to say about them (other than perhaps writing a me-too comment that just gives the date and total). Tedickey (talk) 17:52, 9 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Penalty for No Response

Is there a penalty for not responding to the census? I have not been able to find this information anywhere. I am sure I'm not the only US citizen that feels uncomfortable giving more personal information to the government (Especially since census data has been abused in the past, and has huge potential to be abused in the future given our current government). This is something I'm sure many people have come to this article for the answer. --Mijunkin (talk) 02:39, 27 April 2008 (UTC)