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Age, Sex, Race and Hispanic Origin

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, County Population Estimates by Age, Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin. Updated annually. http://www.census.gov/population/www/estimates/countypop.html

These data are released yearly using July 1 population. The estimates schedule can be accessed at http://www.census.gov/population/www/estimates/estsched.html.

Definitions:

These data are estimates of the resident population of the 50 States and the District of Columbia by single years of age (age 0, 1, 2,....85 and over), sex (male, female), race (White; Black; American Indian, Eskimo, and Aleut; Asian and Pacific Islander) and Hispanic origin (Hispanic origin, non-Hispanic origin) for July 1, 1990 through 1998.

The race and Hispanic origin categories used by the Census Bureau are mandated by Office of Management and Budget Directive No. 15, which requires all federal record keeping and data presentation to use four race categories (White, Black, American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian and Pacific Islander) and two ethnicity categories (Hispanic, non-Hispanic). These classifications are not intended to be scientific in nature, but are designed to promote consistency in federal record keeping and data presentation.

It is important to recognize that this system treats race and ethnicity as separate and independent categories. This means that within the federal system everyone is classified as both a member of one of the four race groups and also as either Hispanic or non-Hispanic. Consequently, there are a total of 8 race-ethnicity categories, as illustrated by the table below:

U.S. Population by Race and Hispanic Origin, July 1, 1997 (in thousands)

White Black American Indian & Alaska Native Asian & Pacific Islander
non-Hispanic 194,571 32,324 1,977 9,532
Hispanic 26,746 1,649 347 5 98

Scope and Methodology:

The State estimates included in this release are developed using a cohort-component method whereby each component of population change - births, deaths, domestic migration, and international migration is estimated separately for each birth cohort by sex, race, and Hispanic origin.

The county detail estimates are produced in a second step using a ratio method.

More Information:

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