Contents

• Introduction
  
  1. Current Dollars
     
  2. Fiscal Years
     
  3. Limitations of Data
     
  4. Sources of Data and Statistical Reliability
     
• File Descriptions
  
  1. Summary Tables
  2. Ranking Table
  3. Lottery Table
  4. Summary Table Spreadsheet
  5. Text File -Rectangular Layout
  6. Public Use File
• Data Dictionary
  

The United States Census Bureau conducts an Annual Survey of Government Finances, as authorized by law under Title 13, United States Code, Section 182. The survey coverage includes all state and local governments in the United States. The survey content includes the entire range of government finance activities -- revenue, expenditure, debt, and assets.

The tables and files contained here provide a comprehensive summary of the annual survey findings for state governments, as well as data for individual states. The tables contain detail of revenue by type, expenditure by object and function, indebtedness by term, and assets by purpose. To view the most common aggregate finance categories that are used in tables and special tabulations, see Chapter 13 of the Government Finance and Employment Classification Manual, entitled Methodology for Summary Tabulations

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Current Dollars

The statistics in these files are in terms of current dollar amounts. They have not been adjusted for price or wage level changes occurring through the years.

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Fiscal Years

The statistics relate to state government fiscal years that end on June 30 of the survey year, except for four states with other ending dates: Alabama and Michigan (September 30), New York (March 31), and Texas (August 31).

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Limitations of Data

Reporting of government finances by the Census Bureau involves presentation of data in terms of uniform categories. Financial items of the same kind are merged. For example, expenditure amounts for a similar purpose are combined, regardless of the number of government funds involved.

Per capita amounts for each state are derived based on the July 1 population estimates, except for 2000, when we used the April 1, 2000 Census population counts. At the United States level, the total population does not include the District of Columbia (not classified as a state government). The financial data are limited to coverage of state governments and provide no measure of local government finances as such.

Use caution in attempting to draw conclusions from direct comparisons of financial amounts for individual state governments. Some states directly administer activities that elsewhere are undertaken by local governments, with or without state fiscal aid. The share of government sector financial totals contributed by a state government, therefore, differs materially from one state to another.

Financial amounts presented are statistical in nature and do not represent an accounting statement.

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Sources of Data and Statistical Reliability

The statistics in this report were compiled by Census Bureau analysts using financial records of the state governments. In most cases, these records were obtained directly from the state offices responsible for auditing, budgeting, or developing periodic financial information. Many of the sources are part of, or linked to, official consolidated annual financial reports of the states. In some cases, records used represent publicly-available reports, while in other cases they represent underlying detail of such reports. While the records are from state government sources, all responsibility for the measures contained in this report lies with the Bureau of the Census.

State government financial statistics in this report are not subject to sampling. Consequently, there is no associated measure of statistical error, or sampling variablility, such as the relative standard error. These statistics are, however, subject to nonsampling error. Such error includes inaccuracies in classification, coverage, and processing. Efforts were made at all phases of collection, processing, and tabulation to minimize errors. However, the data are still subject to errors from estimating for missing data, errors from miscoding, and errors in coverage (difficulties in identifying every state agency or unit that should be in the report). Every effort was made to keep such errors to a minimum through care in examining, editing, and tabulating the data.

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There are two types of available data, viewable summary files and microdata. Each contains state government financial statistics. The types and number of files vary somewhat depending upon the survey year.

Summary Tables

The viewable summary tables contain aggregated summary data for the U.S. and for each state. The summary data include items such as revenue by type, expenditures by function, indebtedness, and cash and security holdings.

Filename is YYSTXX**.html where:
YY=fiscal year; XX=state id; and **=state abbreviation

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Ranking Table

The ranking table presents states ranked according to total and per capita revenue and expediture amounts in a spreadsheet format.

Filename is YYrank.html (where YY represents the fiscal year)

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Lottery Table

The Lottery table shows income and apportionment of state-administered lottery funds in a spreadsheet format.

Filename is YYlottery.html (where YY represents the fiscal year)

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Summary Table Spreadsheet File

The summary table spreadsheet is a Ms Excel spreadsheet format of the above summary tables. There is an entry for each state, as well as a U. S. summary section.

Filename is YYstatess.xls (where YY represents the fiscal year)

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Text File - Rectangular Layout

Characteristic	Description
Years Available	1992 - present
File Type	ASCII
Rec Length	653 characters
Data Fields per Record	51
Record Type	Fixed length records with delimiters
Field Delimiter	Comma
File Naming Convention	XXSTATECD.TXT where XX represents the last two digits of the fiscal year of the data represented in the file.

Each file is similar in layout. However, beginning with the 1996 survey year, two initial records (lines) are found at the beginning of the file. The first record is the state abbreviated name, and the second record is the population. Each subsequent record contains information about one financial item code for all 50 states. An item-code is a 3 character Census Bureau name representing a particular financial activity. An example of an item code is "T01". T01 is a variable name the Census Bureau uses to represent Property Tax. In general, item-codes fall into 4 categories, revenues, expenditures, assets, and long-term debt.

A Data Dictionary, containing a list of the item codes and their titles, follows the descriptions of the three types of files available via this Internet site, below. However, for a more detailed definition of each item code, please refer to the Governments Finance and Employment Classification Manual.

Each record begins with the 3 character item-code. A delimiter follows. The dollar amount (in thousands of dollars) that relates to that item code for Alabama is next. Another delimiter follows. Then the dollar amount for Alaska. Another delimiter is next. Then the dollar amount for Arizona. This pattern continues through the last state alphabetically, Wyoming. A full record layout description follows.

The dollar amount field for each state is 12 characters long, zero-filled, and it contains amount sign. If the amount is negative, the first character shows a "-" sign. If the amount is positive, all zeros are filled. The delimiter is 1 character long.

The data records and file were constructed in this manner to achieve a versatility of use. This file can easily be downloaded into a spreadsheet, database or data set. It can also be read sequentially by other accessing programs. Its fixed length fields and delimiters should make transfer and access extremely easy.

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Public Use File, ASCII Text Format

Beginning with the fiscal year 1996 survey, this public use format will be a standard for all of the government finance series files containing detailed statistics by item code and individual government unit.

The 35 character record layout is described below.

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Below are item codes and their titles, as included in the annual state finance survey data files. Additional information about these codes, as well as descriptions and definitions, can be found in the Governments Finance and Employment Classification Manual.

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