Population Profile of the United States: 2000 (Internet Release) iii
U.S. Census Bureau
PREFACE
In 2002, the U.S. Census Bureau celebrates its 100th
anniversary. Although a national population count had
been conducted every 10 years since 1790, it was not
until the early 1900s that the growing demand for
information created a need for a permanent profes-
sional staff. As the country’s appetite for information
became more intense, the Census Bureau became in-
creasingly responsible for collecting and releasing
greater amounts of data — and the need for better
ways to collect more timely and detailed information
became apparent.
In the mid-1930s, the Census Bureau became a pioneer
in the application of probability sampling to human popu-
lations. This innovation allowed the federal government
to estimate the scope and breadth of unemployment
during the Great Depression and to determine whether
policy initiatives such as employment programs and
Social Security were having the desired effect. In the early
1940s, the agency began conducting periodic surveys
to meet the demand for up-to-date statistical measures
on a variety of topics. Today’s Census Bureau surveys
touch on topics that the population census cannot even
begin to address, such as computer use, voting behav-
ior, and neighborhood crime.
The Population Profile of the United States: 2000 is an
Internet publication containing a wide range of data
on demographic, social, economic, and housing trends
for the country as a whole. While emphasizing the last
decade before the turn of the century, the report in-
cludes data collected throughout the 20th century and
reflects the most recent information on each topic as
of October 2001. The Population Profile serves as a
portal leading the reader to the voluminous and more
detailed reports that the Census Bureau is constantly
producing.
Information from Census 2000 is rapidly becoming avail-
able. According to current plans, starting in 2004, the
Census Bureau’s new American Community Survey will
be producing statis