2000 United States Census
2000 US Census logo
The
Twenty-Second
United
States
Census, known as Census 2000 and con-
ducted by the Census Bureau, determined
the resident population of the United States
on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an in-
crease of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 per-
sons enumerated during the 1990 Census.[1]
This was the twenty-second federal census
and the largest single civil administrative
peacetime effort in the history of the United
States.[2]
The U.S. resident population includes the
total number of people in the 50 states and
the District of Columbia. The Bureau also
enumerated the residents of the Common-
wealth of Puerto Rico; its population was
3,808,610, an 8.1% increase over the number
from a decade earlier.
Population profile
In an introduction to a more detailed popula-
tion profile
(see references below),
the
Census Bureau highlighted the following
facts about U.S population dynamics:
• 75.1% of respondents said they were
White or Caucasian and no other race;
• 21.36% (60 Million Americans) are of
German descent; German Americans
• 12.3% are of Black or African American
descent;
• Hispanics — who may belong to any race
— accounted for 12.5% of the U.S.
population, up from 9% in 1990;
• 3.6% of respondents are Asian;
• 2.4% of respondents are multiracial (2 or
more races). The 2000 Census was the
first time survey options for multiracial
Americans were provided.
• Between 1990 and 2000, the population
aged 45 to 54 grew by 49% and those
aged 85 and older grew 38%;
• Women outnumber men two to one
amongst those aged 85 and older;
• Almost one in five adults had some type of
disability in 1997 and the likelihood of
having a disability increased with age;
• Families (as opposed to men or women
living alone) still dominate American
households, but less so than they did
thirty years ago;
• Since 1993, both families and nonfamilies
have seen median household incomes rise,
with "households headed by a woman
without a spouse present" growing the
fastest;
• People in married-couple famili