Thanks to the American Community Survey (ACS) program, the U.S. Census Bureau recently released more than 1,200 tables of detailed demographic data for 2006, covering such important topics as income, education and work commute.

The ACS program provides, on an annual basis, current data which was previously available only from the decennial census. Unlike the ACS, the U.S. Census is an actual enumeration of the people every 10 years. Its foremost purpose is apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives among the states. The first official Census was conducted in 1790 under Thomas Jefferson, then Secretary of State. That census, taken by U.S. marshals on horseback, counted 3.9 million inhabitants. Since that time, the decennial Census has been conducted every ten years, generally on April 1, in years ending in a zero.

Besides providing the basis for congressional redistricting, Census data are used in many other ways. Since 1975, the Census Bureau has had responsibility to produce small-area population data needed to redraw state legislative and congressional districts. Other important uses of Census data include the distribution of funds for government programs such as Medicaid; planning the right locations for schools, roads, and other public facilities; helping real estate agents and potential residents learn about a neighborhood; and identifying trends over time that can help predict future needs. However, 10 years is a long time to rely on dated statistics that sometimes no longer accurately represent the current demographics of an area.

For this reason, the Census Bureau began conducting the ACS in the year 2000. The annual ACS lets communities see how they are changing - filling in the gaps between each 10-year census. “The American Community Survey meets a critical need for timely information,” said Census Bureau Director Louis Kincannon. “In these fast-paced times, 10 years is too long to wait for detailed census data. These data are vital for the planning, implementation and evaluation of policies ranging from building new schools and roads to establishing initiatives that drive economic development.” The ACS data helps federal officials determine where to distribute more than $300 billion to state and local governments each year.

Although the Census Bureau’s Population Estimates Program provides the official estimates of population size, including by age, sex, race and Hispanic origin, the ACS looks at a wide range of social, economic and housing characteristics for the population by a multitude of demographic variables. The data are available for more than 7,000 areas, including all congressional districts as well as counties, cities, metro areas and American Indian and Alaska Native areas of 65,000 or more residents. Currently, South Dakota ACS data is available on a statewide basis and for Minnehaha County, Pennington County and the city of Sioux Falls.

The U.S. Census Bureau recently released the 2006 annual ACS data, which includes data topics such as language, income, education, family size and work commute. Highlights from more than 1,200 data tables recently released include the following:

Older Workers

Nationally, nearly one in four people between the ages of 65 and 74 (23.2 percent) were in the labor force (either working or looking for work) in 2006, an increase from 19.6 percent in 2000. States with some of the lowest rates of older workers in the labor force include West Virginia (15.7 percent), Michigan (18.8 percent) and Arizona (19.4 percent). (Michigan and Arizona were not statistically different.)

Some of the highest rates were found in South Dakota and Nebraska, with about one-third of people in this age group in the labor force. South Dakota’s rate was 33.5 percent, followed by 31.6 percent in Nebraska.  

Homeownership

Homeownership has also increased since 2000, with more than two-thirds of all occupied homes (67.3 percent) currently owned by the occupant, compared to 66.2 percent in 2000. In 2006, the highest rates of homeownership were found in Minnesota (76.3), and some of the lowest were found in New York (55.6 percent) and Washington, D.C. (45.8 percent). South Dakota’s rate was 69.2 percent, slightly higher than the national rate of 67.3 percent.

Non-English Speakers

In 2006, about 8 million more people spoke a foreign language at home than in 2000. Nationally, one in five (19.7 percent) over age five spoke a language other than English at home, compared to 17.9 percent in 2000. Among states, California (42.5 percent) had the highest percentage in this category, followed by New Mexico (36.5 percent) and Texas (33.8 percent). About one in 10 California households were linguistically isolated, which means everyone 14 or older in those households had at least some difficulty speaking English. In South Dakota, only 6.5 percent of the population spoke a foreign language at home in 2006, which is the same rate recorded from the 2000 Census.

Married with Children

Nationally, the percentage of households that were married-couple families with children under 18 decreased from 23.5 percent in 2000 to 21.6 percent in 2006.

All states except Connecticut saw a percentage point decrease in households in this category since 2000. In 2006, Utah had the greatest percentage of married-couple households with children under 18, at 32.3 percent. Other states with high rates included Idaho (25.5 percent), California (24.8 percent), Texas (24.7 percent), New Jersey (24.6 percent) and Alaska (24.3 percent. Florida (18.2 percent) and Washington, D.C. (7.3 percent) had some of the lowest. South Dakota’s rate was 21.3 percent in 2006, which decreased compared to 24.5 percent in 2000.

Additional highlights

The District of Columbia had a higher percentage of people with a bachelor’s degree or higher (46 percent) than any state. The rate in South Dakota was 25 percent, compared to the national rate of 27 percent. However, South Dakota has a higher rate of high school completers, at 88 percent compared to the national rate of 84 percent.

California and Hawaii were the two states with the highest median value of owner-occupied homes (more than $500,000). California cities Newport Beach and Santa Barbara had median home values of about $1 million. Corresponding to the low cost of living in South Dakota, the 2006 median value of owner-occupied homes was $112,600.

More than half of California homeowners with a mortgage spent 30 percent or more of their household incomes on mortgage payments and other owner costs. Less than a quarter of North Dakota homeowners spent 30 percent or more of their household incomes on mortgage payments and other owner costs. Similar rates occur in South Dakota, with 27 percent of homeowners spending 30 percent or more of their household incomes for these expenses. There were 41 percent of South Dakota homeowners who spent less than 20 percent.  

Much more detailed information is available on the Census Bureau website and easily accessible using the American FactFinder application. As is the case with all surveys, statistics from sample surveys are subject to sampling and nonsampling error. Please consult data tables for specific margins of error. For more information please access: http://www.census.gov/acs/www/UseData/index.htm.

As another service to users, Labor Market Information Center staff are familiar with the American FactFinder application and would be happy to “walk you through it” over the phone as needed. Simply call us at 605-626-2314 or 1-800-592-1881.