Real Estate and Rental and Leasing

SCOPE

The Real Estate and Rental and Leasing sector (sector 53) comprises establishments of firms with payroll primarily engaged in renting, leasing, or otherwise allowing the use of tangible assets (e.g., real estate and equipment), intangible assets (e.g., patents and trademarks), and establishments providing related services (e.g., establishments primarily engaged in managing real estate for others, selling, renting and/or buying real estate for others, and appraising real estate).

Exclusions. The following industries are not included in this sector: real estate investment trusts (REITs), which are classified in Subsector 525, Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles, because they are considered investment vehicles; and establishments primarily engaged in renting or leasing equipment with operators, which are classified in various subsectors of NAICS depending on the nature of the services provided (e.g., transportation, construction, agriculture). These activities are excluded from this sector because the client is paying for the expertise and knowledge of the equipment operator, in addition to the use of the equipment.

The reports described below exclude establishments of firms with no paid employees. These “nonemployers,” typically self-employed individuals or partnerships operating businesses that they have not chosen to incorporate, are reported separately in Nonemployer Statistics. The contribution of nonemployers, relatively large for this sector, may be examined at www.census.gov/nonemployerimpact.

Definitions. Industry categories are defined in Appendix B, NAICS Codes, Titles, and Descriptions. Other terms are defined in Appendix A, Explanation of Terms.

REPORTS

The following reports provide statistics on this sector.

Industry Series. There are 11 reports, each covering a group of related industries. The reports present, by kind of business for the United States, general statistics for establishments of firms with payroll on number of establishments, revenue, payroll, and employment; comparative statistics for 2002 and 1997; product lines; and concentration of business activity in the largest firms. The data in industry reports are preliminary and subject to change in the following reports.

Geographic Area Series. There is a separate report for each state, the District of Columbia, and the United States. Each state report presents, for establishments of firms with payroll, general statistics on number of establishments, revenue, payroll, and employment by kind of business for the state, metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas, counties, and places with 2,500 inhabitants or more. Greater kind-of-business detail is shown for larger areas. The United States report presents data for the United States as a whole for detailed kind-of-business classifications.

Subject Series:

• Product Lines. This report presents product lines data for establishments of firms with payroll by kind of business. Establishments may report negative revenue for selected product lines. Because of this, percentages for product lines may be in excess of 100 or less than 0. Data are presented for the United States only.

• Establishment and Firm Size (Including Legal Form of Organization). This report presents revenue, payroll, and employment data for the United States by revenue size, by employment size, and by legal form of organization for establishments of firms with payroll; and by revenue size (including concentration by largest firms), by employment size, and by number of establishments operated (single units and multiunits) for firms with payroll.

• Miscellaneous Subjects. This report presents data for a variety of industry-specific topics for establishments of firms with payroll. Presentation of data varies by kind of business.

Other reports. Data for this sector are also included in reports with multisector coverage, including Nonemployer Statistics, Comparative Statistics, Bridge Between 2002 NAICS and 1997 NAICS, Business Expenses, and the Survey of Business Owners reports.

GEOGRAPHIC AREAS COVERED

The level of geographic detail varies by report. Maps are available at www.census.gov/econ2002maps. Notes specific to areas in the state are included in Appendix D, Geographic Notes. Data may be presented for –

1. The United States as a whole.
   
2. States and the District of Columbia.
   
3. Metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas. A core based statistical area (CBSA) contains a core area with a substantial population nucleus, together with adjacent communities having a high degree of social and economic integration with that core. CBSAs are differentiated into metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas based on size criteria. Both metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas are defined in terms of entire counties, and are listed in Appendix E, Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas.
   1. Metropolitan Statistical Areas (metro areas). Metro areas have at least one urbanized area of 50,000 or more population, plus adjacent territory that has a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured by commuting ties.
   2. Micropolitan Statistical Areas (micro areas). Micro areas have at least one urban cluster of at least 10,000, but less than 50,000 population, plus adjacent territory that has a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured by commuting ties.
   3. Metropolitan Divisions (metro divisions). If specified criteria are met, a metro area containing a single core with a population of 2.5 million or more may be subdivided to form smaller groupings of counties referred to as Metropolitan Divisions.
   4. Combined Statistical Areas (combined areas). If specified criteria are met, adjacent metro and micro areas, in various combinations, may become the components of a new set of areas called Combined Statistical Areas. The areas that combine retain their own designations as metro or micro areas within the larger combined area.
      
4. Counties and county equivalents defined as of January 1, 2002. Counties are the primary divisions of states, except in Louisiana where they are called parishes and in Alaska where they are called boroughs, census areas, and city and boroughs. Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, and Virginia have one place or more that is independent of any county organization and constitutes primary divisions of their states. These places are treated as counties and as places.
   
5. Economic places.
   1. Municipalities of 2,500 inhabitants or more defined as of January 1, 2002. These are areas of significant population incorporated as cities, boroughs, villages, or towns according to the 2000 Census of Population. For the economic census, boroughs, census areas, and city and boroughs in Alaska and boroughs in New York are not included in this category.
   2. Consolidated cities defined as of January 1, 2002. Consolidated cities are consolidated governments that consist of separately incorporated municipalities.
   3. Townships in Michigan, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and towns in New York, Wisconsin, and the six New England states with 10,000 inhabitants or more (according to the 2000 Census of Population).
   4. Balance of county. Areas outside the entities listed above, including incorporated municipalities with populations of fewer than 2,500, towns and townships not qualifying as noted above, and the remainders of counties outside places are categorized as “Balance of county.”

DOLLAR VALUES

All dollar values presented are expressed in current dollars; i.e., 2002 data are expressed in 2002 dollars, and 1997 data, in 1997 dollars. Consequently, when making comparisons with prior years, users of the data should consider the changes in prices that have occurred.

All dollar values are shown in thousands of dollars.

COMPARABILITY OF THE 1997 AND 2002 ECONOMIC CENSUSES

Both the 2002 Economic Census and the 1997 Economic Census present data based on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). While there were revisions to some industries for 2002, none of those affect this sector.

RELIABILITY OF DATA

All data compiled for this sector are subject to nonsampling errors. Nonsampling errors can be attributed to many sources: inability to identify all cases in the actual universe; definition and classification difficulties; differences in the interpretation of questions; errors in recording or coding the data obtained; and other errors of collection, response, coverage, processing, and estimation for missing or misreported data. Data presented in the Miscellaneous Subjects and Product Lines reports for this sector are subject to sampling errors, as well as nonsampling errors.

The accuracy of these tabulated data is determined by the joint effects of the various nonsampling errors or by the joint effects of sampling and nonsampling errors. No direct measurement of these effects has been obtained except for estimation for missing or misreported data, as by the percentages shown in the tables. Precautionary steps were taken in all phases of the collection, processing, and tabulation of the data in an effort to minimize the effects of nonsampling errors. More information on the reliability of the data is included in Appendix C, Methodology.

DISCLOSURE

In accordance with federal law governing census reports (Title 13 of the United States Code), no data are published that would disclose the operations of an individual establishment or business. However, the number of establishments in a kind-of-business classification is not considered a disclosure; therefore, this information may be released even though other information is withheld. Techniques employed to limit disclosure are discussed at www.census.gov/epcd/ec02/disclosure.htm.

AVAILABILITY OF MORE FREQUENT ECONOMIC DATA

The Census Bureau conducts the Service Annual Survey (SAS) each year. This survey, while providing more frequent observations, yields less kind-of-business and geographic detail than the economic census. In addition, the County Business Patterns program offers annual statistics on the number of establishments, employment, and payroll classified by industry within each county, and Statistics of U.S. Businesses provides annual statistics classified by the employment size of the enterprise, further classified by industry for the United States, and by broader categories for states and metropolitan areas.

CONTACTS FOR DATA USERS

Questions about these data may be directed to the U.S. Census Bureau, Service Sector Statistics Division, Utilities and Financial Census Branch, 1-800-541-8345 or fcb@census.gov.

ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS

The following abbreviations and symbols are used with these data: