Census
2000
Subject
Definitions
Ability to speak
English. For people who speak
a language other than English at home, the
response represents the
person’s own perception of his or her ability to speak English, from
‘‘very
well’’ to ‘‘not at all.’’
Because census questionnaires are usually completed by one household
member,
the responses may
represent the perception of another household member. (For more
information,
see ‘‘Language spoken at
home.’’)
Age. The age
classification is based on the age of the person in complete years as of April
1,
2000. The age of the
person usually was derived from their date of birth information.
Their
reported age was used only
when date of birth information was unavailable.
Ancestry. Ancestry refers to a
person’s ethnic origin or descent, ‘‘roots,’’ heritage, or the
place
of birth of the person
or the person’s parents or ancestors before their arrival in the
The data on ancestry
represent self-classification by people according to the ancestry
group(s)
with which they most
closely identify. The ancestry question allowed respondents to report one
or
more ancestry groups;
however, only the first two responses were coded. The data presented
in
this product refer to the
total number of ancestries reported (up to two) by people living in
the
area.
Armed
Forces. People on active duty
with the United States Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine
Corps, or Coast Guard. It
does not include Armed Forces members stationed abroad in
foreign
countries.
Average family
size. A measure obtained by
dividing the number of people in families by the
total number of families
(or family householders).
Average household
size. A measure obtained by
dividing the number of people in households
by the total number of
households (or householders).
Average household
size of owner-occupied units. A measure obtained by
dividing the
number of people living in
owner-occupied housing units by the total number of
owner-occupied
housing
units.
Average household
size of renter-occupied units. A measure obtained by
dividing the
number of people living in
renter-occupied housing units by the total number of
renter-occupied
housing
units.
Born at
sea. In a small number of
cases, place of birth was reported as ‘‘At sea,’’ which
does
not fit into any
particular world region. Therefore, the foreign-born universe shown in the
‘‘Region
of birth of foreign
born’’ section does not match the universe shown for the ‘‘Nativity and place
of
birth’’ section. (For more
information, see ‘‘Foreign born’’ and ‘‘Native.’’)
Child. A child includes a
son or daughter by birth, a stepchild, or an adopted child of
the
householder, regardless of the
child’s age or marital status.
Class of
worker. The class of worker
refers to the same job as the respondent’s industry and
occupation, categorizing people
according to the type of ownership of the employing
organization.
Class of worker
categories are private wage and salary workers, government workers, selfemployed
in own incorporated
business workers, self-employed in own not incorporated
business
workers, and unpaid family
workers. Private wage and salary workers includes
private-for-profit
and private
not-for-profit employees. Government workers includes local, state, and federal
government
employees. Self-employed in
own incorporated business is included with private wage
and salary workers
because they are paid employees of their own companies; whereas, selfemployed
in own not incorporated
business includes people who work in their own
unincorporated
business, profession, or
trade, or who operated a farm. Unpaid family workers
includes
people who work 15 hours or
more without pay in a business or on a farm operated by a
relative.
Citizenship
status.
through naturalization. All
natives are
as either a
‘‘Naturalized citizen’’ or ‘‘Not a citizen.’’ (For more information, see
‘‘Native’’ and
‘‘Foreign
born.’’)
Commuting to
work. Means of
transportation to work refers to the principal mode of travel
or
type of conveyance that
the worker usually used to get from home to work during the
reference
week. The category ‘‘Car,
truck, or van — drove alone’’ includes people who usually drove alone
to
work, as well as people
who were driven to work by someone who then drove back home or to
a
nonwork destination during
the reference week. The category ‘‘Car, truck, or van —
carpooled’’
includes workers who reported
that two or more people usually rode to work in the vehicle
during
the reference week. The
category ‘‘Public transportation (including taxicab)’’ includes workers
who
usually used a bus or
trolley bus, streetcar or trolley car (publico in
elevated, railroad,
ferryboat, or taxicab during the reference week. The category ‘‘Other means’’
includes workers who used a
mode of travel that is not identified separately.
Disability
status. People 5 years old
and over are considered to have a disability if they have
one or more of the
following: (a) blindness, deafness, or a severe vision or hearing
impairment;
(b) a substantial limitation in the ability to perform basic
physical activities, such as walking,
climbing stairs, reaching,
lifting, or carrying; (c) difficulty learning, remembering, or
concentrating;
or (d) difficulty
dressing, bathing, or getting around inside the home. In addition to the
above
criteria, people 16 years old
and over are considered to have a disability if they have
difficulty
going outside the home
alone to shop or visit a doctor’s office, and people 16-64 years old
are
considered to have a disability
if they have difficulty working at a job or business.
Earnings. Earnings is defined
as the sum of wage and salary income and net income from
selfemployment. Earnings represent the amount of income
received regularly before deductions
for personal income
taxes, social security, bond purchases, union dues, medicare deductions, etc.
Educational
attainment. Educational
attainment is the highest degree or level of school
completed.
The category
‘‘Associate degree’’ includes people whose highest degree is an
associate
degree, which generally
requires two years of college level work and is either in an
occupational
program that prepares them
for a specific occupation, or an academic program primarily in
the
arts and sciences. The
course work may or may not be transferrable to a
bachelor’s degree. Master’s
degrees include the
traditional MA and MS degrees and field-specific degrees, such as
MSW,
MEd,
MBA, MLS, and MEng. Some examples of
professional degrees include medicine, dentistry,
chiropractic, optometry,
osteopathic medicine, pharmacy, podiatry, veterinary medicine, law,
and
theology. Vocational and
technical training, such as that in barber school; business, trade,
technical,
and vocational schools;
or other training for a specific trade are specifically
excluded.
Employed. All civilians 16
years old and over who are either (1) ‘‘at work’’ - those who did
any
work at all during the
reference week as paid employees, worked in their own business or
profession,
worked on their own farm,
or worked 15 hours or more as unpaid workers on a family
farm
or in a family business
or (2) are ‘‘with a job, but not at work’’ - those who did not work during
the
reference week, but had jobs
or businesses from which they were temporarily absent.
Excluded
from the employed are
people whose only activity consisted of work around their own
house
(painting, repairing, or own home housework) or unpaid
volunteer work for religious, charitable,
and similar
organizations. Also excluded are people on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces.
The
reference week is the full
calendar week preceding the date on which the respondent
completed
the questionnaire or was
interviewed by enumerators. (For more information, see ‘‘Labor
force’’
and
‘‘Unemployed.’’)
Family household
(family). A family includes a
householder and one or more people living in
the same household who
are related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption.
All
people in a household who
are related to the householder are regarded as members of his or
her
family. A family household
may contain people not related to the householder, but those
people
are not included as part
of the householder’s family in census tabulations. Thus, the number
of
family households is equal
to the number of families, but family households may include
more
members than do families. A
household can contain only one family for purposes of census
tabulations.
Not all households
contain families since a household may comprise a group of
unrelated
people or one person living
alone.
Female householder,
no husband present. A female maintaining
a household with no husband
of the householder
present.
Foreign
born. The foreign-born
population includes all people who are not
birth. (For more
information, see ‘‘Native’’ and ‘‘Born at sea.’’)
Full-time, year-round
workers. This category
consists of people 16 years old and over who
usually worked 35 hours or
more per week for 50 to 52 weeks in 1999.
Grandparents as
caregivers. Data were collected
on whether a grandchild lives in the household,
whether the grandparent has
responsibility for the basic needs of the grandchild, and
the
duration of that
responsibility. The data on grandparents as caregivers were derived from
answers
to questions asked of
the population 15 years and over. Because of the very few numbers
of
people under 30 years being
grandparents, data are only shown for people 30 years and
over.
Gross
rent. Gross rent is monthly
contract rent plus the estimated average monthly cost of
utilities and fuels, if these
are paid by the renter. (For more information, see ‘‘Specified renteroccupied
units.’’)
Gross rent as a
percentage of household income in 1999. A computed ratio of
monthly
gross rent to monthly
household income (total household income in 1999 divided by 12).
Units
for which no cash rent
is paid and units occupied by households that reported no income or a
net
loss in 1999 comprise the
category ‘‘Not computed.’’ (For more information, see ‘‘Specified renteroccupied
units.’’)
Group quarters
population. The group quarters
population includes all people not living in
households. Two general
categories of people in group quarters are recognized: (1) the
institutionalized
population, which includes
people under formally authorized, supervised care or custody
in
institutions at the time of
enumeration (such as correctional institutions, nursing homes, and
juvenile
institutions), and (2) the noninstitutionalized population, which includes all people
who live in
group quarters other than
institutions (such as college dormitories, military quarters, and
group
homes).
Hispanic or
Latino. People who identify
with the terms ‘‘Hispanic’’ or ‘‘Latino’’ are those who
classify themselves in one of
the specific Hispanic or Latino categories listed on the
questionnaire—‘‘Mexican,’’
‘‘Puerto Rican,’’ or ‘‘Cuban’’—as well as those who indicate that they
are
‘‘other Spanish,
Hispanic, or Latino.’’ Origin can be viewed
as the heritage, nationality group, lineage,
or country of birth of
the person or the person’s parents or ancestors before their arrival
in
the
race.
Homeowner vacancy
rate. The homeowner vacancy
rate is the proportion of the homeowner
housing inventory that is
vacant for sale. It is computed by dividing the number of vacant
units
for sale only by the sum
of owner-occupied units and vacant units that are for sale only, and
then
multiplying by 100. (For more
information, see ‘‘Vacant housing unit.’’)
House heating
fuel. The type of fuel used
most often to heat the house, apartment, or mobile
home.
Household. A household includes
all of the people who occupy a housing unit. People not
living
in households are
classified as living in group quarters.
Householder. In most cases, the
householder is the person, or one of the people, in whose
name the home is owned,
being bought, or rented and who is listed as Person 1 on the
census
questionnaire. If there is no such
person in the household, any adult household member 15
years
old and over could be
designated as the householder (i.e., Person 1).
Housing
unit. A housing unit may be
a house, an apartment, a mobile home, a group of
rooms, or a single room
that is occupied (or if vacant, is intended for occupancy) as separate
living
quarters. Separate living
quarters are those in which the occupants live separately from
any
other individuals in the
building and which have direct access from outside the building
or
through a common
hall.
Income in
1999. Information on money
income received in calendar year 1999 was requested
from individuals 15 years
and over. ‘‘Total income’’ is the sum of the amounts reported
separately
for wage or salary
income; net self-employment income; interest, dividends, or net rental or
royalty
income; social security or
railroad retirement income; supplemental security income
(SSI);
public assistance or
welfare payments; retirement or disability income; and all other
income.
Receipts from the
following sources are not included as income: money received from the sale
of
property (unless the
recipient was engaged in the business of selling such property); capital
gains;
the value of income ‘‘in
kind’’ from food stamps, public housing subsidies, medical care,
employer
contributions for individuals,
etc.; withdrawal of bank deposits; money borrowed; tax
refunds;
exchange of money between
relatives living in the same household; and gifts and
lump-sum
inheritances, insurance payments,
and other types of lump-sum receipts.
Although the income
statistics cover calendar year 1999, the characteristics of individuals and
the
composition of
households/families refer to the time of enumeration. Thus, the income of
the
household or family does not
include amounts received by individuals who were members of
the
household/family during all or part
of the calendar year 1999 if these individuals no longer
resided with the
household/family at the time of enumeration. Similarly, income amounts
reported
by individuals who did
not reside with the household/family during 1999 but who were
members
of the household/family
at the time of enumeration are included. However, the composition
of
most households/families
was the same during 1999 as at the time of enumeration.
Income of
families. In compiling
statistics on family income, the incomes of all members 15
years old and over in each
family are summed and treated as a single amount.
Income of
households. Includes the income
of the householder and all other individuals
15 years old and over
in the household, whether they are related to the householder or
not.
Because many
households consist of only one person, average household income is usually
less
than average family
income.
Income type in
1999
Wage or salary
income. Wage or salary income
includes total money earnings received for
work performed as an
employee during calendar year 1999. It includes wages, salary,
Armed
Forces pay,
commissions, tips, piece-rate payments, and cash bonuses earned before
deductions
were made for taxes,
bonds, pensions, union dues, etc.
Self-employment
income. Self-employment
income includes both farm and nonfarm selfemployment
income:
Nonfarm
self-employment income. Nonfarm self-employment
includes net money income
(gross receipts minus expenses) from one’s own business,
professional enterprise, or partnership.
Gross receipts
include the value of all goods sold and services rendered.
Expenses
include costs of goods
purchased, rent, heat, light, power, depreciation, charges, wages
and
salaries paid, business taxes
(not personal income taxes), etc.
Farm
self-employment. Farm self-employment
includes net money income (gross receipts
minus operating expenses)
from the operation of a farm by a person on his or her own
account, as an owner,
renter, or sharecropper. Gross receipts include the value of all
products
sold; government farm
programs; money received from the rental of farm equipment to
others;
and incidental receipts
from the sale of wood, sand, gravel, etc. Operating
expenses
include cost of feed,
fertilizer, seed, and other farming supplies; cash wages paid to
farmhands;
depreciation charges; cash rent;
interest on farm mortgages; farm building repairs;
farm taxes (not state and
federal personal income taxes), etc. The value of fuel, food, or
other
farm products used for
family living is not included as part of net income.
Interest, dividends,
or net rental income. Interest, dividends,
or net rental income
includes interests on savings
or bonds, dividends from stockholdings or membership in
associations,
net income from rental
of property to others and receipts from boarders or lodgers,
net
royalties, and periodic
payments from an estate or trust fund.
Social security
income. Social security
income includes social security pensions and survivors
benefits and permanent
disability insurance payments made by the Social Security
Administration
prior to deductions for
medical insurance, and railroad retirement insurance
checks
from the
Supplemental security
income (SSI). Supplemental security
income is a
program administered by the
Social Security Administration that guarantees a minimum
level of income for needy
aged, blind, or disabled individuals. The census questionnaire
for
in
SSI was most likely
interpreted by respondents as other, incidental income.
Public assistance
income. Public assistance
income includes general assistance and temporary
assistance to needy families
(TANF). Separate payments received for hospital or other
medical
care (vendor payments)
are excluded. This does not include supplemental security
income
(SSI).
Retirement or
disability income. Retirement or
disability income includes: (1) retirement
pensions and survivor
benefits from a former employer; labor union; or federal, state, or
local
government; and the
from companies or unions;
federal, state, or local government; and the
receipts from annuities and
insurance; and (4) regular income from IRA and KEOGH plans.
This
does not include social
security income.
All other
income. All other income
includes unemployment compensation, Veterans’
Administration
(VA) payments,
alimony and child support, contributions received periodically
from
people not living in the
household, military family allotments, and other kinds of
periodic
income other than
earnings.
Industry. Information on
industry relates to the kind of business conducted by a
person’s
employing organization. For
employed people, the data refer to the person’s job during the
reference
week. For those who
worked at two or more jobs, the data refer to the job at which the
person
worked the greatest number
of hours. Some examples of industrial groups shown in this
product include agriculture,
forestry, fishing and hunting, and mining; construction;
manufacturing;
wholesale trade; retail trade;
and public administration.
Institutionalized
population. The institutionalized
population includes people under formally
authorized, supervised care or
custody in institutions at the time of enumeration. (For more
information,
see ‘‘Group quarters
population.’’)
Kitchen
facilities. Complete kitchen
facilities include all of the following: a sink with piped
water, a range or cook top
and oven, and a refrigerator. All kitchen facilities must be located in
the
house, apartment, or
mobile home, but they need not be in the same room.
Labor
force. The labor force
includes all people classified in the civilian labor force (that
is,
‘‘employed’’ and
‘‘unemployed’’ people) plus members of the U.S. Armed Forces (people on
active
duty in the U.S. Army,
Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard). (For more information,
see
‘‘Employed’’ and
‘‘Unemployed.’’)
Language spoken at
home. The population who
speaks a language other than English
includes only those who
sometimes or always speak a language other than English at home.
It
does not include those
who speak a language other than English only at school or work, or
those
who were limited to only
a few expressions or slang of the other language. Most people
who
speak another language at
home also speak English. (For more information, see ‘‘Ability to
speak
English.’’)
Marital
status. Each person is asked
whether they are ‘‘now married,’’ ‘‘widowed,’’
‘‘divorced,’’
‘‘separated,’’ or
‘‘never married.’’ Couples who live together (for example, people in
common-law
marriages) were able to report
the marital status they considered the most appropriate.
Married-couple
family. A family in which the
householder and his or her spouse are enumerated
as members of the same
household.
Mean earnings.
See
‘‘Mean Income.’’ For more information, see “Conditional rounding”
under
“Derived
measures.”
Mean income.
Mean
income is the amount obtained by dividing the total income of a
particular
statistical universe by the
number of units in that universe. Thus, mean household income
is
obtained by dividing total
household income by the total number of households. For the
various
types of income, the means
are based on households having those types of income.
Care should be
exercised in using and interpreting mean income values for small subgroups
of
the population. Because
the mean is influenced strongly by extreme values in the distribution, it
is
especially susceptible to the
effects of sampling variability, misreporting, and processing
errors.
The median, which is
not affected by extreme values, is, therefore, a better measure than
the
mean when the population
base is small.
Mean public
assistance income. See ‘‘Mean income.’’
For more information, see “Conditional
Rounding” under
“Derived measures.”
Mean retirement
income. See ‘‘Mean income.’’
For more information, see “Conditional rounding”
under “Derived
measures.”
Mean social security
income. See ‘‘Mean income.’’
For more information, see “Conditional
Rounding” under
“Derived measures.”
Mean supplemental
security income. See ‘‘Mean income.’’
For more information, see “Conditional
rounding” under “Derived
measures.”
Mean travel time to
work (minutes). Mean travel time to
work is the average travel time in
minutes that workers usually
took to get from home to work (one-way) during the reference
week.
This measure is
obtained by dividing the total number of minutes taken to get from home to
work
by the number of
workers 16 years old and over who did not work at home. The travel
time
includes time spent waiting
for public transportation, picking up passengers in carpools, and
time
spent in other activities
related to getting to work. For more information, see “Conditional
rounding”
under “Derived
measures.”
Means of
transportation to work. See ‘‘Commuting to
work.’’
Median
age. The median divides
the age distribution into two equal parts: one-half of the
cases falling below the
median age and one-half above the median.
Median earnings for
full-time, year-round workers. The median divides
the earnings distribution
into two equal parts:
one-half of the cases falling below the median and one-half
above
the median. Median
earnings for full-time, year-round workers is based on individuals 16
years
and over with earnings
who usually worked 35 hours or more per week for 50 to 52 weeks
in
1999. This measure is
rounded to the nearest dollar. (For more information, see
‘‘Earnings.’’)
Median gross
rent. The median divides
the gross rent distribution (rent, plus utilities, if paid
separately from rent) into two
equal parts: one-half of the cases falling below the median
gross
rent and one-half above
the median. This measure is rounded to the nearest whole dollar.
Housing
units that are renter
occupied without payment of cash rent are excluded in the calculation
of
median gross
rent.
Median
income. The median divides
the income distribution into two equal parts: one-half of
the cases falling below
the median income and one-half above the median. For households
and
families, the median income
is based on the distribution of the total number of households
or
families including those with
no income. The median for individuals is based on
individuals
15 years and over
with income. This measure is
rounded to the nearest whole dollar.
Median
rooms. The median divides
the room distribution into two equal parts: one-half of
the
cases falling below the
median number of rooms and one-half above the median. In
computing
median rooms, the whole
number is used as the midpoint of the interval; thus, the
category
‘‘3 rooms’’ is
treated as an interval ranging from 2.5 to 3.5 rooms. This measure is rounded to
the
nearest
tenth.
Median selected
monthly owner costs. The median divides
the selected monthly owner
costs into two equal
parts: one-half of the cases falling below the median selected monthly
owner
costs and one-half above
the median. Medians are shown separately for units ‘‘with a
mortgage’’
and for units ‘‘not
mortgaged.’’ This measure is rounded to the nearest whole
dollar.
Median
value. The median divides
the value distribution into two equal parts: one-half of
the
cases falling below the
median value of the property (house and lot, mobile home and lot, or
condominium
unit) and one-half above
the median. This measure is rounded to the nearest hundred
dollars. (For more
information, see ‘‘Specified owner-occupied units.’’)
Mortgage
status. ‘‘Mortgage’’ refers
to all forms of debt where the property is pledged as
security for repayment of the
debt, including deeds of trust, trust deed, contracts to
purchase,
land contracts, junior
mortgages, and home equity loans.
Native. The native population
includes people born in the
Island
Areas. People who were born
in a foreign country but have at least one American parent
also are included in this
category. (For more information, see ‘‘Born at sea’’ and ‘‘Foreign
born.’’)
No telephone service.
See
‘‘Telephone.’’
Nonfamily
household. A household
consisting of a householder living alone or with nonrelatives
only.
Noninstitutionalized
population. All people who live
in group quarters other than institutions.
Also, included are staff residing at institutional group quarters. (For more
information, see
‘‘Group quarters
population.’’)
Nonrelative. Any household member
who is not related to the householder by birth, marriage,
or adoption, including
foster children.
Occupants per
room. Occupants per room is
obtained by dividing the number of people in
each