When preparing for the Decennial Census of Population and Housing, the Census Bureau compiles and checks an address list of approximately 106 million housing units and approximately 250 million people across the United States. The Census Bureau is also responsible for enumerating people and housing units in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands of the United States, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and Palau. This entire population receives a short form, while one of every six households also receives a long form. In both cases, one individual in each household completes the information for the entire household. These two forms are described below.

Short Form

The short form is intended for surveying 100% of the population, an estimated 106 million households. This form, completed by all households, includes:

• seven population questions applicable to every individual in the household; and
• seven questions concerning the household's housing conditions.

Data is available on Summary Tape File 1 for all the short form data at every geographic level known to the census.  You may view the tables available or locate tables by subject.

Data collected from this form are contained in Summary Tape File 1 (STF1) and Summary Tape File 2 (STF2). The Summary Tape Files will be discussed in detail later in this module.

Completed by approximately 17.7 million households, the long form includes information about place of birth, participation in the labor force, and family income. The long form survey was conducted on a sample of the U.S. population. The sampling rates varied, depending on geographic locations and population size.  The purpose of using variable sampling rates was to provide relatively more reliable estimates for small areas and decrease respondent burden in more densely populated areas while maintaining data reliability.  Higher proportions of less populous areas receive the long form. For example, locations with less than 2,500 persons sample one in two households, while locations with more than 2,500 persons sample one in six households. Some densely populated areas sample one in eight.

Summary Tape File 3 (STF 3) and Summary Tape File 4 (STF4) contain the data collected from these long forms.  Data is available on Summary Tape File 3 for all the long form data..  You may view the tables available or locate tables by subject.

When working with census data, it is important to remember the distinctions between the short and the long forms. Variations between the two formats include the:

• geographic area summarized;
• topics covered; and
• media format in which the data can be accessed.

When designing the census questionnaire, the Bureau tries to include questions that allow for comparison with previous census data, questions of current interest to lawmakers as well as special interest groups, and questions that people will willingly answer, i.e., people will not feel their privacy is being invaded. Figure 2.1 lists the data items that were collected in the 1990 Census.

 

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