- Birth cohort.
- A birth cohort is a group of people who were born in a specified calendar
period.
- Births, Out of wedlock.
- Out-of-wedlock births are defined as births occurring in the 12-month
period preceding the survey date to women who were currently divorced,
widowed, or never married at the time of the interview.
- Child Support.
- Data on award of child support payments were collected from people 15
years or older with children under 21 years of age whose other parent
was not living in the household. Information on recipiency and amount
of payments was obtained from people who reported that they were awarded
or had agreements to receive child support payments.
Reason for nonaward of child support.
Final agreement pending: A child support agreement was
awaiting final court, magisterial, or legal action before becoming
final, and/or a voluntary written agreement was not yet final.
Joint custody granted: Housing, care, and support of the
child(ren) was shared by both parents; therefore, no money or other
support was exchanged.
Did not want child support: The custodial parent indicated
he/she did not want child support for own child(ren).
Unable to locate other parent: Child support was desired,
but the child(ren)’s noncustodial parent could not be located.
Unable to establish paternity: Child support arrangements could
not be made because the child(ren)’s paternity could not be
established.
Some other reason: The custodial parent wanted child support,
and the reason for nonaward did not fit any of the reasons listed above.
Inclusion of health insurance in child support award.
This item refers to whether the child(ren)’s noncustodial parent
had made health insurance arrangements for his/her child(ren) as part of
the child support award. Arrangements for health insurance could have
been made by the noncustodial parent purchasing a separate policy for
the child(ren) or including the child(ren) under the health insurance
provided by his/her employer. In either event, the purchase of, or
inclusion of, health insurance must be part of the child support
agreement. Insurance taken out by the custodial parent but paid for
from child support payment by the noncustodial parent is not included.
Type of child support arrangement.
Voluntary written agreement: Voluntary written agreements
between the parties. This agreement may or may not have been
recognized by the courts as part of the divorce or separation
proceedings. This type of agreement was not ordered by the courts.
Court ordered: Payments ordered by the court. Court-ordered
payments usually take place when a mutually acceptable agreement cannot
be worked out between the parties.
Other: Arrangements not within either of the two cases above.
This category includes informal verbal agreements.
- Children.
- The term "children," as used in tables on living arrangements
of children under 18, are all persons under 18 years, excluding people
who maintain households, families, or subfamilies as a reference person
or spouse.
Own children in a family are sons and daughters,
including stepchildren and adopted children, of the householder.
Similarly, "own" children in a subfamily are sons and daughters
of the married couple or parent in the subfamily. (All children
shown as members of related subfamilies are own children of the person(s)
maintaining the subfamily.) For each type of family unit identified in
the CPS, the count of "own children under 18 years old" is
limited to never-married children; however, "own children under
25" and "own children of any age," as the terms are used
here, include all children regardless of marital status. The counts
include never-married children living away from home in college dormitories.
Related children in a family include own children and
all other children under 18 years old in the household who are related
to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption. The count of related
children in families was formerly restricted to never-married children.
However, beginning with data for 1968 the Bureau of the Census includes
ever-married children under the category of related children. This
change added approximately 20,000 children to the category of related
children in March 1968.
- Children ever born.
- The question "How many babies has...ever had, if any? (Do not count
stillbirths)" is asked of all women 15 to 44 years old. When asking
about children ever born, interviewers are instructed to include children
born to the women before her present marriage, children no longer living,
and children away from home as well as children who are still living in
the home. It is possible that some never-married mothers living with one
or more of their natural children reported themselves as having been
married. In addition, many mothers who first married after the birth of
one or more children counted those children, as they were expected to do.
Nevertheless, data are probably less complete for births out of wedlock
than for births within marriage.
- College enrollment.
- The college enrollment statistics are based on replies to the interviewer’s
inquiry as to whether the person was attending or enrolled in school and
the grade or school or year of college. Interviewers were instructed to
count as enrolled anyone who had been enrolled at any time during the
current term or school year, except those who have left for the remainder
of the term. Thus, regular college enrollment includes those people attending
a 4-year or 2-year college, university, or professional school (such as
medical or law school) in courses that may advance the student toward a
recognized college or university degree (e.g., BA or MA). Attendance may
be either full time or part time, during the day or night. The college
student need not be working toward a degree, but he/she must be enrolled
in a class for which credit would be applied toward a degree. (see
"school enrollment"). Students are classified by year of
college, based on the academic year (not calendar year) they are attending.
Undergraduate years are the 1st through 4th year, or freshman through
senior. Graduate or professional school years include the 5th year and
higher.
Two-year and four-year colleges: College students were asked
to report whether the college in which they were enrolled was a 2-year
college (junior or community college) or a 4-year college or university.
Students enrolled in the first 4 years (undergraduates) were classified
by the type of college they reported. Graduate students are shown as a
separate group.
Attendance, full-time and part-time. College students were
classified according to whether they were attending school on a full-time
or part-time basis. A student was regarded as attending college full time
if he/she was taking 12 or more hours of classes during the average school
week, and part time if he/she was taking less than 12 hours of classes
during the average school week.
- Citizenship status.
- There are five categories of citizenship status: 1) Born in the
United States; 2) Born in Puerto Rico or another outlying area of
the U.S.; 3) Born abroad of U.S. citizen parents; 4) Naturalized
citizens; 5) Non-citizens. Place of birth was asked for every
household member in the CPS sample, and for the parents of every household
member. People born in the U.S. or it’s outlying areas, or whose
parents were born in the U.S. or it’s outlying areas, were not
asked citizenship questions. Citizenship status (1), (2), or (3) was
assigned during the editing phase of data preparation based on the place
of birth of the household member, or the place of birth of his or her
parents. People born outside the U.S. and it’s outlying areas, and
whose parents were born outside the U.S. and it’s outlying areas,
were asked, "Are you a citizen of the United States."
‘Yes’ answers were assigned to the naturalized citizen
category (4) and ‘No’ answers were assigned to the "Not
a citizen" category (5) during the editing process. People for
whom no birthplace was provided were assigned a citizenship status during
the editing process. For example, the citizenship status of a child might
have been assigned based on the citizenship status of it’s mother.
- Country of birth.
- Birth place codes available in the CPS include; one code for the United
States (fifty states and Washington DC); one code for Puerto Rico; one
code for all other outlying areas of the United States (American Samoa,
Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, Northern Marinas, etc.); separate codes for
100 individual foreign countries or areas; residual codes for other cases
(At Sea, etc.). People for whom no birthplace was provided were assigned
a birthplace during the editing process based on several criteria. For
example, the birthplace of a child might have been assigned based on the
birthplace of it’s mother and/or father.
- Country of birth and Year of entry.
- People born outside the United States (see Country of Birth) were asked
the year they came to the United States to live. Persons in citizenship
categories (2) to (5) (see Citizenship Status) for whom no year of entry
was reported were assigned a value for "Year of Entry" during
the editing process based on other reported information.
- Educational attainment.
- Data on educational attainment are derived from a single question that
asks, "What is the highest grade of school...has completed, or the
highest degree...has received?"
The single educational attainment question now in use was introduced in
the CPS beginning January 1992, and is similar to that used in the 1990
Decennial Census of Population and Housing. Consequently, data on
educational attainment from the 1992 CPS are not directly comparable to
CPS data from earlier years. The new question replaces the previous
two-part question used in the CPS that asked respondents to report the
highest grade they had attended, and whether or not they had completed
that grade.
The questions on educational attainment apply only to progress in
"regular" schools. Such schools include graded public, private,
and parochial elementary and high schools (both junior and senior high
schools), colleges, universities, and professional schools, whether day
schools or night schools. Thus, regular schooling is that which may
advance a person toward an elementary school certificate or high school
diploma, or a college, university, or professional school degree.
Schooling in other than regular schools was counted only if the credits
obtained are regarded as transferable to a school in the regular school
system.
- Ethnic origin.
- People of Hispanic origin were identified by a question that asked for
self-identification of the persons’ origin or descent. Respondents
were asked to select their origin (and the origin of other household
members) from a "flash card" listing ethnic origins. People
of Hispanic origin, in particular, were those who indicated that their
origin was Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or
some other Hispanic origin. It should be noted that people of Hispanic
origin may be of any race.
People who were Non-Hispanic White origin, were identified by crossing
the responses to two self-identification questions: (1) origin or
descent and (2) race. Respondents were asked to select their race
(and the race of other household members) from a "flash card"
listing racial groups. Beginning with March 1989, the population is
divided into five groups on the basis of race: White, Black, American
Indian, Eskimo or Aleut, Asian or Pacific Islander, and Other races. The
last category includes any other race except the four mentioned.
Respondents who selected their race as White and indicated that their
origin was not one of the Hispanic origin subgroups Mexican, Puerto
Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, were called Non-Hispanic White
origin.
- Family.
- A family is a group of two people or more (one of whom is the householder)
related by birth, marriage, or adoption and residing together; all such
people (including related subfamily members) are considered as members
of one family. Beginning with the 1980 Current Population Survey,
unrelated subfamilies (referred to in the past as secondary families)
are no longer included in the count of families, nor are the members of
unrelated subfamilies included in the count of family members. The number
of families is equal to the number of family households, however, the
count of family members differs from the count of family household members
because family household members include any non-relatives living in the
household.
- Family group.
- A family group is any two or more people (not necessarily including a
householder) residing together, and related by birth, marriage, or
adoption. A household may be composed of one such group, more than one,
or none at all. The count of family groups includes family households,
related subfamilies, and unrelated subfamilies.
- Family household.
- A family household is a household maintained by a householder who is in
a family (as defined above), and includes any unrelated people (unrelated
subfamily members and/or secondary individuals) who may be residing there.
The number of family households is equal to the number of families. The
count of family household members differs from the count of family
members, however, in that the family household members include all people
living in the household, whereas family members include only the
householder and his/her relatives. See the definition of family.
- Foreign-born. (See Native born)
- Geographic regions. (See Regions, geographic)
- Group quarters.
- As of 1983, group quarters were defined in the current population survey
as noninstitutional living arrangements for groups not living in
conventional housing units or groups living in housing units containing
ten or more unrelated people or nine or more people unrelated to the
person in charge. (Prior to 1983, group quarters included housing units
containing five or more people unrelated to the person in charge.)
Examples of people in group quarters include a person residing in a
rooming house, in staff quarters at a hospital, or in a halfway house.
Beginning in 1972, inmates of institutions have not been included in the
Current Population Survey.
- Head Start.
- Children enrolled in Head Start programs or similar programs sponsored
by local agencies to provide preschool education to young children are
counted under nursery school or kindergarten as appropriate.
(Also see, Schools, Nursery)
- Health Insurance Coverage.
- A person was considered covered by health insurance at some time during
the year if he or she was covered by at least one of the following types
of coverages:
- Employer/union
- Privately purchased (not related to employment)
- Medicare
- Medicaid
- Military health care (military, CHAMPUS, CHAMPVA, VA, Indian Health Services)
- Someone outside the household
- Other
An individual can have more than one type of coverage during the year.
- Household.
- A household consists of all the people who occupy a housing unit. A
house, an apartment or other group of rooms, or a single room, is
regarded as a housing unit when it is occupied or intended for occupancy
as separate living quarters; that is, when the occupants do not live and
eat with any other persons in the structure and there is direct access
from the outside or through a common hall.
A household includes the related family members and all the unrelated
people, if any, such as lodgers, foster children, wards, or employees
who share the housing unit. A person living alone in a housing unit, or
a group of unrelated people sharing a housing unit such as partners or
roomers, is also counted as a household. The count of households excludes
group quarters. There are two major categories of households,
"family" and "nonfamily". (See definitions
of Family household and Nonfamily household).
- Household, family, or subfamily, Size of.
- The term "size of household" includes all the people occupying
a housing unit. "Size of family" includes the family householder
and all other people in the living quarters who are related to the
householder by birth, marriage, or adoption. "Size of related
subfamily" includes the husband and wife or the lone parent and
their never-married sons and daughters under 18 years of age. "Size
of unrelated subfamily" includes the reference person and all other
members related to the reference person. If a family has a related
subfamily among its members, the size of the family includes the members
of the related subfamily.
- Household, nonfamily.
- A nonfamily household consists of a householder living alone (a
one-person household) or where the householder shares the home
exclusively with people to whom he/she is not related.
- Householder.
- The householder refers to the person (or one of the people) in whose name
the housing unit is owned or rented (maintained) or, if there is no such
person, any adult member, excluding roomers, boarders, or paid employees.
If the house is owned or rented jointly by a married couple, the
householder may be either the husband or the wife. The person designated
as the householder is the "reference person" to whom the
relationship of all other household members, if any, is recorded.
The number of householders is equal to the number of households. Also,
the number of family householders is equal to the number of families.
Head versus householder. Beginning with the
1980 CPS, the Bureau of the Census discontinued the use of the terms
"head of household" and "head of family." Instead,
the terms "householder" and "family householder" are
used. Recent social changes have resulted in greater sharing of household
responsibilities among the adult members and, therefore, have made the
term "head" increasingly inappropriate in the analysis of
household and family data. Specifically, beginning in 1980, the Census
Bureau discontinued its longtime practice of always classifying the
husband as the reference person (head) when he and his wife are living
together.
- Income measurement:
- For each person in the sample 15 years old and over, the CPS asks
questions on the amount of money income received in the preceding calendar
year from each of the following sources:
- Earnings
- Unemployment compensation
- Workers’ compensation
- Social security
- Supplemental security income
- Public assistance
- Veterans’ payments
- Survivor benefits
- Disability benefits
- Pension or retirement income
- Interest
- Dividends
- Rents, royalties, and estates and trusts
- Educational assistance
- Alimony
- Child support
- Financial assistance from outside of the household
- Other income
It should be noted that although the income statistics refer to receipts
during the preceding calendar year, the demographic characteristics, such
as age, labor force status, and family or household composition, are as
of the survey date. The income of the family/household does not include
amounts received by people who were members during all or part of the
income year if these people no longer resided in the family/household at
the time of interview. However, the CPS collects income data for people
who are current residents but did not reside in the household during the
income year.
Data on consumer income collected in the CPS by the Census Bureau cover
money income received (exclusive of certain money receipts such as
capital gains) before payments for personal income taxes, social security,
union dues, medicare deductions, etc. Therefore, money income does not
reflect the fact that some families receive part of their income in the
form of noncash benefits, such as food stamps, health benefits, rent-free
housing, and goods produced and consumed on the farm. In addition, money
income does not reflect the fact that noncash benefits are also received
by some nonfarm residents which often take the form of the use of business
transportation and facilities, full or partial payments by business for
retirement programs, medical and educational expenses, etc. Data users
should consider these elements when comparing income levels. Moreover,
readers should be aware that for many different reasons there is a
tendency in household surveys for respondents to underreport their income.
Based on an analysis of independently derived income estimates, the Census
Bureau determined that respondents report income earned from wages or
salaries much better than other sources of income and that the reported
wage and salary income is nearly equal to independent estimates of
aggregate income.
The Census Bureau collects data for the following income sources:
- Earnings. The Census Bureau classifies earnings
from longest job (or self-employment) and other employment earnings
into three types:
- Money wage or salary income is the total income people receive
for work performed as an employee during the income year. This
category includes wages, salary, armed forces pay, commissions,
tips, piece-rate payments, and cash bonuses earned, before
deductions are made for items such as taxes, bonds, pensions, and
union dues.
- Net income from nonfarm self-employment is the 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 items such as costs of goods purchased, rent, heat, power,
depreciation charges, wages and salaries paid, and business taxes
(not personal income taxes). In general, the Census Bureau
considers inventory changes in determining net income from nonfarm
self-employment; replies based on income tax returns or other
official records do reflect inventory changes. However, when
respondents do not report values of inventory changes, interviewers
will accept net income figures exclusive of inventory changes.
The Census Bureau does not include the value of saleable merchandise
consumed by the proprietors of retail stores as part of net income.
- Net income from farm self-employment is the net money income
(gross receipts minus operating expenses) from the operation of
a farm by a person on their own account, as an owner, renter, or
sharecropper. Gross receipts include the value of all products
sold, payments from government farm programs, money received from
the rental of farm equipment to others, rent received from farm
property if payment is made based on a percent of crops produced,
and incidental receipts from the sale of items such as wood, sand,
and gravel. Operating expenses include items such as 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; and farm taxes (not state
and federal personal income taxes). The Census Bureau does not
include the value of fuel, food, or other farm products used for
family living as part of net income. In determining farm
self-employment income, the Census Bureau considers inventory
changes in determining net income only when they are accounted
for in replies based on income tax returns or other official
records which reflect inventory changes; otherwise, the Census
Bureau does not take inventory changes into account.
- Unemployment compensation includes payments the
respondent received from government unemployment agencies or private
companies during periods of unemployment and any strike benefits the
respondent received from union funds.
- Workers’ compensation includes payments
people receive periodically from public or private insurance companies
for injuries received at work.
- Social security includes social security pensions
and survivors’ benefits and permanent disability insurance
payments made by the Social Security Administration prior to
deductions for medical insurance. The Census Bureau does not include
medicare reimbursements for health services as social security benefits.
- Supplemental security income includes federal,
state, and local welfare agency payments to low-income people who
are 65 years old and over or people of any age who are blind or
disabled.
- Public assistance or welfare payments include
cash public assistance payments low-income people receive, such as
aid to families with dependent children (AFDC, ADC), temporary
assistance to needy families (TANF), general assistance, and
emergency assistance.
- Veterans’ payments include payments disabled
members of the armed forces or survivors of deceased veterans receive
periodically from the Department of Veterans Affairs for education
and on-the-job training, and means-tested assistance to veterans.
- Survivor benefits include payments people receive
from survivors’ or widows’ pensions, estates, trusts,
annuities, or any other types of survivor benefits. Respondents can
report payments from ten different sources: private companies or
unions; federal government (Civil Service); military; state or local
governments; railroad retirement; workers’ compensation; Black
lung payments; estates and trusts; annuities or paid-up insurance
policies; and other survivor payments.
- Disability benefits include payments people
receive as a result of a health problem or disability (other than
those from social security). Respondents can report payments from
ten sources: workers’ compensation; companies or unions;
federal government (Civil Service); military; state or local
governments; railroad retirement; accident or disability insurance;
Black lung payments; state temporary sickness; or other disability
payments.
- Pension or retirement income includes payments
people receive from eight sources: companies or unions; federal
government (Civil Service); military; state or local governments;
railroad retirement; annuities or paid-up insurance policies;
individual retirement accounts (IRAs), Keogh, or 401(k) payments; or
other retirement income.
- Interest income includes payments people receive
(or have credited to accounts) from bonds, treasury notes, IRAs,
certificates of deposit, interest-bearing savings and checking
accounts, and all other investments that pay interest.
- Dividends include income people receive from
stock holdings and mutual fund shares. The CPS does not include
capital gains from the sale of stock holdings as income.
- Rents, royalties, and estates and trusts include
net income people receive from the rental of a house, store, or other
property, receipts from boarders or lodgers, net royalty income,
and periodic payments from estate or trust funds.
- Educational assistance includes Pell Grants;
other government educational assistance; any scholarships or grants;
or financial assistance students receive from employers, friends, or
relatives not residing in the student’s household.
- Alimony includes all periodic payments people
receive from ex-spouses. Alimony excludes one-time property
settlements.
- Child support includes all periodic payments a
parent receives from an absent parent for the support of children,
even if these payments are made through a state or local government
office.
- Financial assistance from outside of the household
includes periodic payments people receive from nonhousehold members.
This type of assistance excludes gifts or sporadic assistance.
- Other income includes all other payments people
receive regularly that are not included elsewhere on the questionnaire.
Some examples are state programs such as foster child payments,
military family allotments, and income received from foreign
government pensions.
- Government transfers include payments people
receive from the following sources: (1) unemployment compensation,
(2) state workers’ compensation, (3) social security,
(4) Supplemental Security Income (SSI), (5) public assistance,
(6) veterans’ benefits, (7) government survivor
benefits, (8) government disability benefits, (9) government
pensions, and (10) government educational assistance.
The Census Bureau does not count the following receipts as income:
(1) capital gains people received (or losses they incur) from the
sale of property, including stocks, bonds, a house, or a car (unless the
person was engaged in the business of selling such property, in which
case the CPS counts the net proceeds as income from self-employment);
(2) withdrawals of bank deposits; (3) money borrowed;
(4) tax refunds; (5) gifts; and (6) lump-sum inheritances
or insurance payments.
The Census Bureau combines all sources of income into two major types:
- Total money earnings is the algebraic sum of money wages
and salary and net income from farm and nonfarm self-employment.
- Income other than earnings is the algebraic sum of all
sources of money income except wages and salaries and income from
self-employment.
Alternative Measures of income
- Money income excluding capital gains before taxes. This
is the official definition used in Census Bureau reports.
- Money income after taxes (without earned income credit
(EIC)). This is definition 1 minus federal and state income
taxes exclusive of the EIC, minus payroll taxes, plus capital
gains, and minus capital losses.
- Money income after taxes (including EIC). This is
definition 1a plus the EIC.
- Definition 1 less government cash transfers. Government
cash transfers include nonmeans-tested transfers such as social
security payments, unemployment compensation, and government
educational assistance (e.g., Pell Grants), as well as means-tested
transfers such as aid to families with dependent children (AFDC, ADC),
temporary assistance to needy families (TANF), and supplemental
security income (SSI). (For a complete listing of transfer income,
see definitions 9 and 12.)
- Definition 2 plus capital gains. Realized capital gains
and losses are simulated as part of the Census Bureau’s federal
individual income tax estimation procedure.
- Definition 3 plus imputed health insurance supplements to wage
and salary income. Employer-paid health insurance coverage is
treated as part of total work compensation.
- Definition 4 less payroll taxes. Payroll taxes are
payments for social security old age, survivors, and disability
insurance, and for hospital insurance (medicare).
- Definition 5 less federal income taxes. Definition 7
shows the effect of the earned income credit (targeted to low-income
workers) separately.
- Definition 6 plus the earned income credit.
- Definition 7 less state income taxes.
- Definition 8 plus nonmeans-tested government cash transfers.
Nonmeans-tested government cash transfers include social security
payments, unemployment compensation, workers’ compensation,
nonmeans-tested veterans’ payments, U.S. railroad retirement,
Black lung payments, Pell Grants, and other government educational
assistance. (Pell Grants are income-tested but are included here
because they are very different from the assistance programs included
in the means-tested category.)
- Definition 9 plus the value of medicare. Medicare is
counted at its fungible value.1
- Definition 10 plus the value of regular-price school lunches.
- Definition 11 plus means-tested government cash transfers.
Means-tested government cash transfers include AFDC, ADC, TANF, SSI,
other public assistance programs, and means-tested veterans’
payments.
- Definition 12 plus the value of medicaid. This definition
counts medicaid at its fungible value.
- Definition 13 plus the value of other means-tested government
noncash transfers, including food stamps, rent subsidies, and
free and reduced-price school lunches.
- Definition 14 less medical programs. This is cash income
plus all noncash income except imputed income from own home, minus
the fungible values of medicaid and medicare.
- Definition 14 plus net imputed return on equity in one’s
own home. This definition includes the estimated annual benefit
of converting one’s home equity into an annuity, net of property
taxes.
1 The fungible approach for valuing medical coverage assigns
income to the extent that having the insurance would free up resources
that would have been spent on medical care. The estimated fungible
value depends on family income, the cost of food and housing needs, and
the market value of the medical benefits. If family income is not
sufficient to cover the family’s basic food and housing requirements,
the fungible value methodology treats medicare and medicaid as having
no income value. If family income exceeds the cost of food and
housing requirements, the fungible value of medicare and medicaid is
equal to the amount which exceeds the value assigned for food and housing
requirements (up to the amount of the market value of an equivalent
insurance policy (total cost divided by the number of participants in
each rish class)).
- Income-to-poverty ratios.
- Income-to-poverty ratios represent the ratio of family or unrelated
individual income to their appropriate poverty threshold. Ratios below
1.00 indicate that the income for the respective family or unrelated
individual is below the official definition of poverty, while a ratio of
1.00 or greater indicates income above the poverty level. A ratio of
1.25, for example, indicates that income was 125 percent above the
appropriate poverty threshold.
Gini ratio. The Gini ratio (or index of income concentration)
is a statistical measure of income equality ranging from 0 to 1. A measure
of 1 indicates perfect inequality; i.e., one person has all the income
and rest have none. A measure of 0 indicates perfect equality; i.e.,
all people have equal shares of income. The Census Bureau used grouped
data to compute all Gini ratios. For a more detailed discussion, see
Current Population Reports, Series P-60, No. 123.
- Marital status.
- The marital status classification identifies four major categories: never
married, married, widowed, and divorced. These terms refer to the
marital status at the time of the enumeration.
The category "married" is further divided into "married,
spouse present," "separated," and "other married,
spouse absent." A person was classified as "married, spouse
present" if the husband or wife was reported as a member of the
household, even though he or she may have been temporarily absent on
business or on vacation, visiting, in a hospital, etc., at the time of
the enumeration. People reported as separated included those with legal
separations, those living apart with intentions of obtaining a divorce,
and other people permanently or temporarily separated because of marital
discord. The group "other married, spouse absent" includes
married people living apart because either the husband or wife was employed
and living at a considerable distance from home, was serving away from
home in the Armed Forces, had moved to another area, or had a different
place of residence for any other reason except separation as defined above.
Single, when used as a marital status category, is the
sum of never-married, widowed, and divorced people. "Single,"
when used in the context of "single-parent family/household,"
means only one parent is present in the home. The parent may be
never-married, widowed, divorced, or married, spouse absent.
- Marriage cohort.
- A marriage cohort is a group of women who were first married in a specified
calendar period,regardless of any subsequent changes in marital status.
- Marriage, Age at first.
- The estimated median age at first marriage, is an approximation derived
indirectly from tabulations of marital status and age. In computing this
median, several steps are involved. First, the expected proportion of
young people who will ever marry during their lifetime is computed. Second,
one-half of this expected proportion is calculated. And third, the current
age of young people who are at this halfway mark is computed. From the
assumptions made and the procedures used, it follows that the date of the
survey is also the date when this halfway mark is reached. Half of the
young people of the given age who will ever get married had done so prior
to the survey date and half are expected to marry in years to come.
- Married couple.
- A married couple, as defined for census purposes, is a husband and wife
enumerated as members of the same household. The married couple may or
may not have children living with them. The expression "husband-wife"
or "married-couple" before the term "household,"
"family," or "subfamily" indicates that the household,
family, or subfamily is maintained by a husband and wife. The number of
married couples equals the count of married-couple families plus related
and unrelated married-couple subfamilies.
- Mean (Average) income.
- Mean (average) income is the amount obtained by dividing the total
aggregate income of a group by the number of units in that group. The
means for households, families, and unrelated individuals are based on
all households, families, and unrelated individuals, respectively. The
means (averages) for people are based on people 15 years old and over
with income.
- Median income.
- Median income is the amount which divides the income distribution into
two equal groups, half having incomes above the median, half having
incomes below the median. The medians for households, families, and
unrelated individuals are based on all households, families, and unrelated
individuals, respectively. The medians for people are based on people
15 years old and over with income.
- Metropolitan-nonmetropolitan residence.
- The general concept of a metropolitan area (MA) is one
of a large population nucleus, together with adjacent communities that
have a high degree of economic and social integration with that nucleus.
Some MA’s are defined around two or more nuclei.
The MA classification is a statistical standard, developed for use by
Federal agencies in the production, analysis, and publication of data on
MA’s. The MA’s are designated and defined by the Federal
Office of Management and Budget, following a set of official published
standards. These standards were developed by the interagency Federal
Executive Committee on Metropolitan Areas, with the aim of producing
definitions that are as consistent as possible for all MA’s
nationwide.
Each MA must contain either a place with a minimum population of 50,000
or a Census Bureau-defined urbanized area and a total MA population of
at least 100,000 (75,000 in New England). An MA is comprised of one or
more central counties, and an MA may also include one or more outlying
counties that have closed economic and social relationships with the
central county. An outlying county must have a specified level of
commuting to the central counties and also must meet certain standards
regarding metropolitan character, such as population density, urban
population, and population growth. In New England, MA’s are
composed of cities and towns rather than whole counties.
The territory, population, and housing units in MA’s are referred
to as "metropolitan." The metropolitan category is subdivided
into "inside central city" and "outside central city."
The territory, population, and housing units located outside MA’s
are referred to as "nonmetropolitan."
To meet the needs of various users, the standards provide for a flexible
structure of metropolitan definitions that classify an MA either as a
metropolitan statistical area (MSA) or as a consolidated metropolitan
statistical area (CMSA) that is divided into primary metropolitan
statistical areas (PMSA’s). Documentation of the MA standards and
how they are applied is available from the Secretary, Federal Executive
Committee on Metropolitan Areas, Population Division, U.S. Bureau of the
Census, Washington, DC 20233.
Central city. In each MSA and CMSA, the
largest place and, in some cases, additional places are designated as
"central cities" under the official standards. A few PMSA’s
do not have central cities. The largest central city and, in some cases,
up to two additional central cities are included in the title of the MA;
there are also central cities that are not included in an MA title. An
MA central city does not include any part of that city that extends
outside the MA boundary.
Consolidated and primary metropolitan statistical area.
If an area that qualifies as an MA has more than one million people,
primary metropolitan statistical areas (PMSA’s) may be defined
within it. PMSA’s consist of a large urbanized county or cluster
of counties that demonstrates very strong internal economic and social
links, in addition to close ties to other portions of the larger area.
When PMSA’s are established, the larger area of which they are
component parts is designated a consolidated metropolitan statistical
area (CMSA).
Metropolitan statistical area. Metropolitan
statistical areas are relatively freestanding MA’s and are not
closely associated with other MA’s. These areas are typically
surrounded by nonmetropolitan counties.
- Migration, allocations of data.
- In the March CPS, complete mobility information is usually not reported
for about 10 percent of all people. In these cases, people missing
mobility data are assigned the mobility status and previous residence
obtained for other family members or allocated using the data for another
sample person who did respond to the questions. The mobility status and
previous residence allocated to a nonrespondent is that obtained for
another person with similar demographic characteristics who has been
selected systematically in the order in which individual records are
processed. Characteristics used in these allocations (when assignment
of data for other family members is not possible) are age, race, years
of school completed, and metropolitan status and state of current
residence. State of previous residence is used instead of state of
current residence if the individual being allocated data reported state
of previous residence but not city or county.
- Migration universe.
- The mobility data are derived from the answers to questions on residence
1 year before the survey date and the geographical location of the
respondent’s current residence. These questions were asked for
all members of the survey household who were 1 year old and over on the
survey date. (See the section, "Migration, Allocations of
Data" for a discussion of the allocation of mobility data
for people for whom no response or only partial responses to the mobility
questions were given.)
- Mobility status.
- The population was classified according to mobility status on the basis
of a comparison between the place of residence of each individual to the
time of the March survey and the place of residence 1 year earlier.
Nonmovers are all people who were living in the same house at the end of
the migration period and the beginning of the migration period. Movers
are all people who were living in a different house at the end of the
period rather than at the beginning. Movers are further classified as
to whether they were living in the same or different county, state,
region, or were movers from abroad. Movers are also categorized by whether
they moved within or between central cities, suburbs, and nonmetropolitan
areas of the United States.
- Modal grade: (see School, Modal grade)
- Moving, Reasons for.
- Reasons for moving were collected from the householder and other persons,
1 year old and over, who were living in a different house/apartment 1 year
prior to the March survey. Persons who moved with the householder were
assigned the reason of the householder.
Reasons for moving.
- Change in marital status: Person moved because of family
formation or dissolution resulting in a change in marital status
classification to one of the following categories: married, widowed,
separated or divorced.
- To establish own household: People who moved out of an
existing household in order to establish a separate one.
- Other family reason: All other reasons not listed above
that are family related.
- New job or job transfer: People who moved because of a new
job or location of existing job moved. This also included military
transfers.
- To look for work or lost job: People who move in order to
find work.
- To be closer to work/easier commute: People who move to
be closer to their work and/or cut their commuting time.
- Retired: People who, after retirement from a job, have
changed their place of residence.
- Other job related reason: All other reasons not listed
above that are job related.
- Wanted to own home/not rent: People who wanted to own
their own home and not rent a house or apartment.
- Wanted a new or better house/apartment: People who wanted
to move from their current home/apartment to a new, bigger/better
house/apartment.
- Wanted better neighborhood/less crime: People who wanted
to move to a better neighborhood and or a neighborhood with less crime.
- Wanted cheaper housing: People who moved to cheaper/less
expensive house/apartment.
- Other housing reason: All other reasons not listed above
that are housing related.
- To attend/leave college: People who leave a place of
residence to attend college or who leave college to return to previous
place of residence or move elsewhere.
- Change of climate: People who moved to a better climate.
- Health reasons: Any change of residence based on the health
of the individual or another person.
- Other reason: All other reasons not listed.
- Native born.
- Native born people are citizens at birth. All people with the following
citizenship status are native born: (1) Born in the United States;
(2) Born in Puerto Rico or a U.S., outlying area; or (3) Born
abroad of American parents (see Citizenship status). All other
people are foreign born.
- Nativity.
- There are two major categories of nativity, Native born and
Foreign born (see Native born above).
- Parity.
- Parity is the number of children ever born to a woman. In some cases,
use of the term "parity" provides a less cumbersome expression,
e.g., "two-parity women" as opposed to "women with two
children ever born."
- Per capita income.
- Per capita income is the average income computed for every man, woman,
and child in a particular group. The Census Bureau derived per capita
income by dividing the total income of a particular group by the total
population in that group (excluding patients or inmates in institutional
quarters).
- Population coverage.
- The universe for the CPS includes the civilian noninstitutional population
of the United States and members of the Armed Forces in the United States
living off post or with their families on post, but excludes all other
members of the Armed Forces. The information on the Hispanic population
from the CPS was collected in the 50 States and the District of Columbia
and, therefore, does not include residents of outlying areas or U.S.
territories such as Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
- Poverty definition.
- Following the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB’s)
Directive 14, the Census Bureau uses a set of money income thresholds
that vary by family size and composition to detect who is poor. If a
family’s total income is less than that family’s threshold,
then that family, and every individual in it, is considered poor. The
poverty thresholds do not vary geographically, but they are updated
annually for inflation with the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U). The
official poverty definition counts money income before taxes and excludes
capital gains and noncash benefits (such as public housing, medicaid,
and food stamps).
Poverty statistics are based on a definition developed by Mollie Orshansky
of the Social Security Administration (SSA)in 19642 and revised
in 1969 and 1981 by interagency committees. This definition was established
as the official definition of poverty for statistical use in all Executive
departments by the Bureau of the Budget (BoB) in 1969 (in Circular No.
A-46); after BoB became The Office of Management and Budget, this was
reconfirmed in Statistical Policy Directive No. 14.
The original poverty definition provided a range of income cutoffs or
thresholds adjusted by such factors as family size, sex of the family
head, number of children under 18 years old, and farm-nonfarm residence.
At the core of this definition of poverty was the economy food plan, the
least costly of four nutritionally adequate food plans designed by the
Department of Agriculture. It was determined from the Department of
Agriculture’s 1955 Household Food Consumption Survey that families
of three or more people spent approximately one-third of their after-tax
money income on food; accordingly, poverty thresholds for families of
three or more people were set at three times the cost of the economy food
plan. Different procedures were used to calculate poverty thresholds for
two-person families and people living alone in order to compensate for
the relatively larger fixed expenses of these smaller units. For two-person
families, the cost of the economy food plan was multiplied by a factor
of 3.7 (also derived from the 1955 survey). For unrelated individuals
(one-person units), no multiplier was used; poverty thresholds were instead
calculated as a fixed proportion of the corresponding thresholds for
two-person units. Annual updates of these SSA poverty thresholds were
based on price changes of the items in the economy food plan.
As a result of deliberations of a Federal interagency committee in 1969,
the following two modifications to the original SSA definition of poverty
were adopted3:
- The SSA thresholds for nonfarm families were retained for the base
year 1963, but annual adjustments in the levels were based on changes
in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rather than on changes in the cost
of foods in the economy food plan.
- The farm thresholds were raised from 70 to 85 percent of the
corresponding nonfarm levels. The combined impact of these two
modifications resulted in an increase in the tabulated totals for
1967 of 360,000 poor families and 1.6 million poor people.
In 1981, three additional modifications in the poverty definition
recommended by another interagency committee were adopted for
implementation in the March 1982 CPS as well as the 1980 census:
- Elimination of separate thresholds for farm families.
- Elimination (by averaging) of separate thresholds for
female-householder families and "all other" families
(earlier termed "male-headed" families).
- Extension of the detailed poverty threshold matrix to make the
largest family size category "nine people or more".
For further details, see the section, "Changes in the Definition of
Poverty," in Current Population Reports, Series P-60, No. 133.
The poverty thresholds are increased each year by the same percentage as
the annual average Consumer Price Index (CPI). The poverty thresholds
are currently adjusted using the annual average CPI-U (1982-84 = 100).
This base year has been used since 1988. From 1980 through 1987, the
thresholds were adjusted using the CPI-U (1967 = 100). The CPI (1963 =
100) was used to adjust thresholds prior to 1980.
For further information on how the poverty thresholds were developed and
subsequent changes in them, see Gordon M. Fisher, "The Development
and History of the Poverty Thresholds," Social Security Bulletin,
vol.55, no.4, Winter 1992, pp. 3-14.
2 For a detailed discussion of the original SSA poverty
thresholds, see Mollie Orshansky, Counting the Poor: Another Look at the
Poverty Profile, Social Security Bulletin, vol. 28, no. 1, January 1965,
pp. 3-29 (reprinted in Social Security Bulletin, vol. 51, no. 10, October
1988, pp. 25-51); and Who’s Who Among the Poor: A Demographic View
of Poverty, Social Security Bulletin, vol. 28, no. 7, July 1965, pp. 3-32.
3 Poverty thresholds for 1959-1967 were recalculated on this
basis, and revised poverty population figures for those years were
tabulated using the revised thresholds. These revised 1959-1967 poverty
population figures have been published in Census Bureau reports issued
since August 1969 (including the present report). Because of this
revision, poverty statistics from documents dated before August 1969 are
not comparable with current poverty statistics.
- Race.
- The race of individuals was identified by a question that asked for
self-identification of the person’s race. Respondents were asked
to select their race from a "flashcard" listing racial groups.
The population is divided into five groups on the basis of race: White;
Black; American Indian, Eskimo or Aleut; Asian or Pacific Islander; and
Other races beginning with March 1989. The last category includes any
other race except the four mentioned. In most of the published tables
"Other races" are included in the total population data line
but are not shown individually.
- Reference person.
- The reference person is the person to whom the relationship of other
people in the household is recorded. The household reference person is
the person listed as the householder (see definition of "Householder").
The subfamily reference person is either the single parent or the
husband/wife in a married-couple situation.
- Regions, Geographic.
- The four major regions of the United States for which data are presented
represent groups of States as follows:
Northeast. Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts,
New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont.
Midwest. Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas,
Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota,
Wisconsin.
South. Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District
of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi,
North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia,
West Virginia.
West. Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado,
Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington,
Wyoming.
Sunbelt. Consists of 13 states plus one
county in Nevada and nine counties in California. The states that are
entirely inside the Sunbelt are: North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia,
Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma,
Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Also included are Clark County, Nevada,
and Imperial, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San
Diego, Santa Barbara, and Ventura Counties in California.
- Residence, Duration of (Voting Supplements).
- Data on duration of residence were obtained from replies to the following
question asked in the November Voting Supplements: "How long has
(this person) lived at this address?"
Less than 1 month
1 to 6 months
7 to 11 months
1 to 2 years
3 to 4 years
5 years or longer
Don’t know
- Rounding.
- Percentages are rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent; therefore,
the percentages in a distribution do not always add to exactly 100.0
percent.
- Size of household, family, or subfamily. (See Household, family,
or subfamily, size of)
- School, dropout rate, annual high school.
- The annual high school dropout rate is an estimate of the proportion of
students who drop out of school in a single year. This section briefly
explains how the annual dropout rate is calculated; for further explanation
and details of its derivation see Current Population Report, Series P-20,
No. 413, "School Enrollment--Social and Economic Characteristics of
Students: October 1983."
Annual dropout rates for a single grade (x) are estimated as the ratio
of the number of people who were enrolled in grade (x) in the year
preceding the survey and who did not complete grade (x) and are not
currently enrolled, to the number enrolled in grade (x) at the start of
the year preceding this survey. People reported as enrolled last year but
not currently enrolled are presented in table 8 of Current Population
Reports on school enrollment, by the highest grade completed and are
presumed to have dropped out of the succeeding grade (except those who
graduated this year). Thus, individuals counted as 10th grade dropouts
are those not enrolled in school whose highest grade completed is the
9th grade. (They include not only those people who were enrolled in the
10th grade in the fall of the year preceding the survey and left school
without completing the year, but also those people who finished the 9th
grade in the spring preceding the survey and were not enrolled at the
survey date.) These estimates form the numerator of estimates of the
annual grade specific dropout rate.
People currently enrolled in high school are presumed to have successfully
completed and been enrolled in the preceding grade in the preceding year.
Thus, those who have successfully completed the 10th grade are enrolled
in the 11th grade. Along with the people who dropped out of that grade,
they comprise the denominator of the estimate of the annual grade-specific
dropout rate.
| Dropout from grade n = |
Not enrolled and highest grade completed = n-1
------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Enrolled in grade n+1 + |
Not enrolled and highest grade completed = n-1 |
Since people who complete the 12th grade cannot be presumed to enroll in
college, the estimate of the number of people enrolled in the 12th grade
one year prior to the survey is constructed as the sum of the number of
people reported as having graduated from high school "this year"
(both those enrolled in the first year of college and people not currently
enrolled whose highest grade completed is the 12th grade) and those people
not currently enrolled who were enrolled last year and whose highest grade
completed is the 11th grade (dropouts). The annual dropout rate for all
grades during one year can be obtained by summing the components of the
rates for the individual grades. In other words, those people who were
enrolled in the tenth, eleventh, or twelfth grade last year and who are
not currently enrolled and do not have a diploma.
In addition to the annual rate, two other estimates of dropouts are
frequently used. The annual dropout rate is different from a "pool"
(or status) measure such as the proportion of an age group who are high
school dropouts (not enrolled in school, not high school graduates, which
does not depend on when the individuals dropped out. A third measure of
dropouts is the cohort measure, most commonly from a longitudinal study,
in which one calculates the proportion of a specific group of people
enrolled in a specific year, who had not received diplomas (and who were
no longer in school) some years later. For example, the proportion of a
cohort enrolled in ninth grade in year X, who were not enrolled and had
not received a diploma by year X=4.
- School enrollment.
- The school enrollment statistics from the CPS are based on replies to
the interviewer’s inquiry whether the person was enrolled in regular
school. Interviewers were instructed to count as enrolled anyone who had
been enrolled at any time during the current term or school year in any
type of public, parochial, or other private school in the regular school
system. Such schools include nursery schools, kindergartens, elementary
schools, high schools, colleges, universities, and professional schools.
Attendance may be on either a full-time, or part-time basis and during
the day or night. Regular schooling is that which may advance a person
toward an elementary or high school diploma, a college, university, or
professional school degree. Children enrolled in nursery schools and
kindergarten are included in the enrollment figures for regular schools
and are also shown separately.
Enrollment in schools which are not in the regular school system, such
as trade schools, business colleges, and schools for the mentally
handicapped, which do not advance students to regular school degrees, is
not included.
People enrolled in classes which do not require physical presence in
school, such as correspondence courses or other courses of independent
study, and in training courses given directly on the job, are also
excluded from the count of those enrolled in school, unless such courses
are being counted for credit at a regular school.
School enrollment in year preceding current survey: An inquiry
on enrollment in regular school or college in October of the preceding
year was asked for all people (enrolled and not enrolled). In years
before 1988, the question was asked only of people who were not currently
attending regular school or were enrolled in college. In the tabulations
of people enrolled in secondary school in the previous year, people
currently enrolled in high school were assumed to have been enrolled the
previous year.
Comparability of enrollment data in previous years: Changes in
the edit and tabulation packages used in processing the October CPS school
enrollment supplement caused some minor revisions in the estimates. The
current edit and tabulation package began with 1987 data. The 1986 data
which were published in Current Population Report, Series P-20 No. 429,
were reprocessed with the rewritten programs in order to clarify
comparability. Time series tables usually show only the revised estimates
for 1986. The previous edit and tabulation package was used from 1967
to 1986.
Major changes in the data due to the 1987 edit revisions were:
(1) Among 14- and 15-year-olds, an edit improvement allowed people
with enrollment data not reported, who were previously automatically
imputed "not enrolled," to be enrolled; (2) Revisions in
tabulation of enrollment in the previous year simplifies calculation of
an annual high school dropout rate; (3) Edit improvements caused
increases in college enrollment estimates, most notably above age 24;
this age group was largely ignored in earlier edits; (4) Type of
college is fully allocated (discussed earlier); (5) Tabulations of
type of college (2-year,4-year) are available by race; (6) Dependent
family member is defined consistently; (7) New tabulations of employment
status, vocational course enrollment, college retention and re-entry,
and families with children enrolled in public and private school were
available beginning in 1987.
In the series of reports on school enrollment for 1987 to 1992, race and
Hispanic origin were erroneously tabulated for a small percentage of
children 3 to 14 years old. Race and Hispanic origin of an adult in the
household were attributed to the child, rather than using the child’s
reported characteristics. In the vast majority of cases these characteristics
were the same for family members, but for a small percentage of children,
they were different. The correction made the following proportional
changes in the numbers of children in each group: White (-0.5 percent),
Black (+3.1 percent), Hispanic origin (-4.6 percent).
Published data on enrollment from the October CPS for 1981 to 1993 used
population controls based on the 1980 census. Beginning in 1994 estimates
were based on 1990 census population controls, including adjustment for
undercount. Time series tables show two sets of data for 1993; the data
labeled 1993r were processed using population controls based on the 1990
census, adjusted for undercount. The change in 1994 from a paper and
pencil survey to a computer assisted survey had some affect on the data.
Most notable, the enrollment question for children 3 to 5 years old was
different from the question for older children--it included a reference
to nursery school. In 1994 reported nursery school enrollment was
significantly higher than in earlier years.
- School, Level of:
- The statistics on level of school indicate the number of people enrolled
at each of five levels--nursery school, kindergarten, elementary school
(1st to 8th grades), high school (9th to 12th grades), and college or
professional school. The last group includes graduate students in
colleges or universities. People enrolled in elementary, middle school,
intermediate school or junior high school through the eighth grade are
classified as in elementary school. All people enrolled in 9th through
12th grade are classified as in high school.
- School, Modal grade.
- Enrolled people are classified according to their relative progress in
school: that is, whether the grade or year in which they were enrolled
was below, at, or above the modal (or typical) grade for people of their
age at the time of the survey. The modal grade is the year of school in
which the largest proportion of students of a given age is enrolled.
- School, Nursery.
- A nursery school is defined as a group or class that is organized to
provide educational experiences for children during the year or years
preceding kindergarten. It includes instruction as an important and
integral phase of its program of child care. Private homes in which
essentially custodial care is provided are not considered nursery schools.
Children attending nursery school are classified as attending during
either part of the day or the full day. Part-day attendance refers to
those who attend either in the morning or in the afternoon, but not both.
Full-day attendance refers to those who attend in both the morning and
the afternoon. Children enrolled in Head Start
programs or similar programs sponsored by local agencies to provide
preschool education to young children are counted under nursery school.
- School, Public or private.
- In this report, a public school is defined as any educational institution
operated by publicly elected or appointed school officials and supported
by public funds. Private schools include educational institutions
established and operated by religious bodies, as well as those which are
under other private control. In cases where enrollment was in a school
or college which was both publicly and privately controlled or supported,
enrollment was counted according to whether it was primarily public or
private.
- Secondary individuals.
- Secondary individuals are people of any age who reside in a household,
but are not related to the householder (except unrelated subfamily
members). People who reside in group quarters are also secondary
individuals. Examples of a secondary individual include (1) a guest,
partner, roommate, or resident employee; (2) a foster child; or
(3) a person residing in a rooming house, a halfway house, staff
quarters at a hospital, or other type of group quarters.
- Step family.
- A Step family is a married-couple family household with at least one
child under age 18 who is a stepchild (i.e., a son or daughter through
marriage, but not by birth) of the householder. This definition
undercounts the true number of step families in instances where the
parent of the natural born or biological child is the householder and
that parents spouse is not the child’s parent, as biological or
step-parentage is not ascertained in the CPS for both parents.
- Subfamily.
- A subfamily is a married couple with or without children, or a single
parent with one or more own never-married children under 18 years old.
A subfamily does not maintain their own household, but lives in the home
of someone else.
Related subfamily. A related subfamily is a
married couple with or without children, or one parent with one or more
own never married children under 18 years old, living in a household and
related to, but not including, the person or couple who maintains the
household. One example of a related subfamily is a young married couple
sharing the home of the husband’s or wife’s parents. The
number of related subfamilies is not included in the count of families.
Unrelated subfamily. An unrelated subfamily
(formerly called a secondary family) is a married couple with or without
children, or a single parent with one or more own never-married children
under 18 years old living in a household. Unrelated subfamily members
are not related to the householder. An unrelated subfamily may include
people such as guests, partners, roommates, or resident employees and
their spouses and/or children. The number of unrelated subfamily members
is included in the total number of household members, but is not included
in the count of family members.
Beginning in 1989, any person(s) who is not related to the householder
and who is not the husband, wife, parent, or child in an unrelated
subfamily is counted as an unrelated individual.
- Tenure.
- A housing unit is "owned" if the owner or co-owner lives in
the unit, even if it is mortgaged or not fully paid for. A cooperative
or condominium unit is "owned" only if the owner or co-owner
lives in it. All other occupied units are classified as "rented,"
including units rented for cash rent and those occupied without payment
of cash rent.
- Undocumented immigrants or illegal aliens.
- Because all residents of the United States living in households are
represented in the sample of households interviewed by the CPS,
undocumented immigrants or illegal aliens are probably included in CPS
data. Because the CPS makes no attempt to ascertain the legal status of
any person interviwed, these individuals cannot be identified from CPS
data.
- Units in structure.
- In the determination of the number of units in a structure, all housing
units, both occupied and vacant, were counted. The statistics are
presented in terms of the number of occupied housing units in structures
of specified size, not in terms of the number of residential structures.
- Unmarried couple.
- An unmarried couple is composed of two unrelated adults of the opposite
sex (one of whom is the householder) who share a housing unit with or
without the presence of children under 15 years old. Unmarried couple
households contain only two adults.
- Unrelated individuals.
- Unrelated individuals are people of any age who are not members of
families or subfamilies.
- Vocational school enrollment.
- Vocational school enrollment includes enrollment in business, vocational,
technical, secretarial, trade, or correspondence courses which are not
counted as regular school enrollment and are not for recreation or adult
education classes. Courses counted as college enrollment should not also
be included as vocational.
- Voting, people eligible to register.
- The population of voting age includes a considerable number of people
who meet the age requirement but cannot register and vote. People who
are not citizens are not eligible to vote. Among citizens of voting age,
some people are not permitted to vote because they have been committed
to penal institutions, mental hospitals, or other institutions, or
because they fail to meet state and local resident requirements for
various reasons. The eligibility to register is governed by state laws
which differ in many respects.
Registration is the act of qualifying to vote by formally enrolling on a
list of voters. People who have moved to another election district must
take steps to have their names placed on the voting rolls in their new
place of residence.
In a few states or parts of states, no formal registration is required.
Voters merely present themselves at the polling place on election day
with proof that they are of age and have met the appropriate residence
requirements. Therefore, in these areas people who are citizens and of
voting age, and who meet the residence requirement, would be considered
as being registered.
- Voter, reported participation.
- Voter participation data are derived from replies to the following
question asked of people (excluding noncitizens) of voting age: "In
any election some people are not able to vote because they are sick or
busy, or have some other reason, and others do not want to vote. Did
(this person) vote in the election held on November (date varies)?"
Those of voting age were classified as "voted" or "did
not vote." In most tables, this "did not vote" class
includes those reported as "did not vote," "do not
know," noncitizens, and nonrespondents. Nonrespondents and people
who reported that they did not know if they voted were included in the
"did not vote" class because of the general over-reporting by
respondents in the sample.
- Voter, reported registration.
- The data on registration were obtained by tabulating replies to the
following question for those people included in the category "did
not vote." "Was (this person) registered to vote in the
November (date varies) election?"
All people reported as having voted were assumed to have been registered.
Therefore, the total registered population is obtained by combining the
number of people who voted and people included in the category "did
not vote," but who had registered.
- Voted, time of day.
- Data on time of day and method of voting was obtained in various November
Current Population Surveys from replies to a direct question: "At
what time of day did... vote?" The answer was recorded in one of
the following categories:
Before noon
Noon to 4 p.m.
4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
After 6 p.m.
Voted absentee
Don’t know
- Work Experience
- A person with work experience is one who, during the preceding calendar
year, did any work for pay or profit or worked without pay on a
family-operated farm or business at any time during the year, on a
part-time or full-time basis. A full-time worker is one who worked 35
hours or more per week during a majority of the weeks worked during the
preceding calendar year. A year-round worker is one who worked for 50
weeks or more during the preceding calendar year. A full-time, year-round
worker is a person who worked full time (35 or more hours per week) and
50 or more weeks during the previous calendar year.
