Director's Blog

Written by: Tom Mesenbourg, Acting Director

This Sunday we celebrate all of the brave men and women who have served our country. I had the honor to serve in the U.S. Army, and I understand the sacrifices you have endured and the contributions you have made to our country. We salute you and thank you for your service. I hope you have a happy Veterans Day.

As we celebrate our veterans, we also can learn more about them. Our American Community Survey (ACS) statistics provide a detailed portrait of those who served. Veterans Day provides an opportunity to learn more about these American heroes.

According to 2011 ACS statistics, there were 21.5 million veterans of the U.S. military, of whom 1.6 million were women. Today’s veterans are most likely to have served during the Vietnam era with 7.5 million serving, compared with the Gulf War era (from Aug. 2, 1990 to the present) with 5.1 million, World War II (1941-1945) with 1.8 million and the Korean War (1950-1953) with 2.4 million. An estimated 5.4 million served in peacetime only.

In addition to when they served, we also know the demographic characteristics of our veterans. In 2011, about 43 percent (9.2 million) of veterans were age 65 and older. At the other end of the age spectrum, about 8 percent (1.8 million) of veterans were younger than 35. About 80 percent of veterans were white, non-Hispanic, and about 7 percent were women.

In 2011, there were 3.5 million veterans with a service-connected disability, which is an injury or illness incurred or aggravated during active military service. Of this number, more than 800,000 veterans had a rating of 70 percent or higher. Severity of one’s disability is scaled from 0 to 100 percent and eligibility for compensation depends on one’s rating.

Statistics from our Survey of Business Owners show the valuable roles that veteran entrepreneurs and their businesses have played within the U.S. economy. In 2007, the latest year for which the survey was conducted, veterans owned an estimated 2.4 million or 9 percent of all 27.1 million nonfarm businesses nationwide.

Veteran entrepreneurs and their businesses have also experienced longevity. Seventy-five percent of veteran business owners were reported to be age 55 or older, compared with 37 percent of all business owners. Fifty-six percent of veteran-owned businesses with paid employees reported that their firm was originally established before 1990, compared with 39 percent of all employer respondent firms.

In addition, 8 percent of veteran owners were reported to be disabled as the result of injury incurred or aggravated during military service.

In addition, we can learn from the American Community Survey that 9.1 million (75 percent) of veterans age 18 to 64 were in the labor force in 2011. Veterans’ annual median income in 2011 was $35,821 compared with $25,811 for the population as a whole, where income includes not only wages and self-employment, but also Social Security, retirement pensions, VA payments, and other forms of income.

When we look at education, we see that 26.3 percent of veterans 25 and older had at least a bachelor’s degree in 2011. In comparison, 28.5 percent of the total population had a bachelor’s degree or higher.

The Census Bureau’s statistics on veterans are used for a variety of purposes. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) uses information, such as age and disability status, from the ACS for planning purposes. By looking at these statistics for states and local communities, the VA can estimate the demand for medical services and nursing home care for veterans. Statistics about veteran status are used to allocate funds to states and local areas for employment and job training programs for veterans, as well as assess compliance with laws prohibiting employment discrimination.

Private organizations use these statistics to provide services and products to veterans, such as financial products oriented toward veterans. Overall, statistics on veterans provide valuable insight into who the nation’s heroes are and how the nation may continue to serve their needs after their service to the country.

To learn more about our nation’s veterans, please visit our veterans data main page.

Written by: Acting Director Tom Mesenbourg

My heart goes out to all of the people in communities affected by Hurricane Sandy.  One way that the Census Bureau can help people impacted is to provide vital information about their communities.

This information is important to the first responders and others who will help those affected get back on their feet again, rebuild and prepare for potential future emergencies. You may be familiar with our local statistics and may have even used them to learn about your community, but did you know they are also critical to emergency planning, preparedness and recovery efforts?

The Census Bureau provides information not just on the number of people affected, but also information about who they are, for example are they elderly, what are their occupations and how they get to work each day.  The Census Bureau also provides information about the homes affected, such as is it an area where people heat their homes with propane tanks or are there many mobile homes in the area?

We also have information about the businesses in the area, because a disaster affects not just people who live in an area, but also the people who work there.  This information is all available on census.gov.

Our official population estimates, along with annually updated socioeconomic data from the American Community Survey, as well as our economic statistics, provide a detailed look at our coastal populations, such as communities in New York and New Jersey and throughout the East Coast, who bore the brunt of Hurricane Sandy.

A new Census Bureau tool, OnTheMap for Emergency Management helps communities prepare for an emergency. This tool traced the path of Hurricane Sandy starting on October 22. As the predictions about the Storm’s path changed, data on potential impacts were automatically updated.  This innovative tool provides information about the potentially affected population, the kinds of businesses impacted by a natural disaster, and the number and characteristics of workers, as well as where they live. You can use it to look at statistics for declared disaster areas and learn about things like the impacted industries, the ages of workers and workers’ earnings. These statistics can be used by communities to know not only how many people live in an area where there is a disaster but also how many people work in those areas.

When a storm hits, one of the first questions many people have is the size of the population affected. For example, almost 4.4 million people lived in counties declared as disaster areas in New Jersey, more than 11 million in New York  and more than 2 million in Connecticut in 2011.

Digging deeper, when communities prepare for or respond to disasters, they often look at what vulnerable populations will need additional assistance. For example, they may look at the size of the elderly population. According to 2011 population estimates, in the counties with a major disaster declaration in New Jersey and New York, 13.8 percent and 12.9 percent of the population are 65 or older respectively. In Connecticut, 14.3 percent of the population in counties declared as disaster areas are 65 or older.

In addition to statistics from our population estimates, the American Community Survey can provide even more detailed information, such as how many people in a community speak a language other than English at home or are disabled. Knowing about these statistics give communities the information they need to plan how to provide services for these populations.

Another question often asked following an event like Hurricane Sandy is the economic impact. Census Bureau economic statistics can help communities measure this by having benchmark information about the number and location of business establishments and jobs from before the storm.

For example, if we look at our 2010 County Business Patterns data, we learn that there were 479,075 business establishments in the Connecticut, New Jersey and New York counties declared major disaster areas. The total employment and annual payroll in these areas was 6,723,791 and $427.4 billion respectively. These counties represent 61.2 percent of the total employment in Connecticut, 45.7 percent of the total employment in New Jersey, and 59.2 percent of the total employment in New York state.  The Local Employment Dynamics Program is another resource that can provide information on businesses and workers at small areas and by detailed characteristics.

These are just a few of the statistics available about these areas and how communities use them. You can explore more statistics about these areas by visiting our Census Data and Emergency Preparedness page.

Written by: Tom Mesenbourg, Acting Director

We could not produce statistics about our nation’s people, places and economy without your help. Your participation in our surveys gives us the information that tells us how we are doing as a nation. And in turn, we are able to paint a portrait of not only our nation, but your community.

Your participation is vital to the data we collect. But we also know you have a lot of great ideas to make us a better, more efficient agency that will continue to produce high-quality statistics.

We want to tap into those great ideas and have created the first Census challenge—to find a better way to predict mail return rates for small geographic areas, like neighborhoods, based on their demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.  This prize competition is authorized under Section 105 of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2011, Public Law 111-358 (2011).

The 2010 Census achieved a return rate of 79.3 percent, which was the rate of returned forms for all occupied housing units. However, census and survey return rates vary considerably across geographic areas. For example, 2010 Census mail-form return rates ranged across states from a high of 82 percent to a low of 65 percent, with even more variation at the neighborhood or census tract level. The Census Return Rate Challenge asks participants to model these variations using predictive variables found in the updated Census Planning Database which includes information from both the 2010 Census and the American Community Survey.

During the 2010 Census, the Census Bureau saved about $85 million in operational costs for every percentage point increase in the nation’s participation rate by mail. A postage paid envelope cost taxpayers 42 cents, compared to $57 for an enumerator to visit the household. The winning model will help us develop more efficient and effective data collection strategies for both our ongoing household surveys and the 2020 Census.

We are posting the challenge on <www.kaggle.com>, an online platform for predictive modeling competitions. Already, there are 86 teams, 98 participants and 533 entries, allowing us to crowdsource the best solution for how to tackle this challenge.

There is still time to participate. The challenge ends Nov. 1, 2012. Not only do participants get to challenge themselves, they could be rewarded for it. A total of $25,000 in prize money will be awarded for the best submissions.

This challenge is just one way the Census Bureau is changing how we do business, allowing you to be an engine of innovation. I am excited about the initiatives we currently have underway that promise to transform our methods, processes, and products and I hope you will help us, by entering the competition today.

For more information, please visit the Federal Register Notice and Census Bureau Research site.