Summary File 1
Subject Content: Summary File 1 contains population and housing data based on Census 2000 questions asked of all people and about every housing unit, e.g., 100% quesionnaire. A total of 286 data tables are included in this file.
Detail: Population items include sex, age, race, Hispanic or Latino origin, household relationship, and household and family characteristics. Housing items include occupancy status and tenure (whether the unit is owner- or renter-occupied). The technical documentation has a complete list of tables.
Geography: States, counties, county subdivisions, places, census tracts, ZIP code tabulation areas, congressional districts (106th Congress), American Indian and Alaska Native Areas, Hawaiian Home Lands. For most subjects, data for census block groups and census blocks also are shown. Chapter 4 in the technical documentation shows the geographic hierarchy used in the file.
Modification: This file is a modification of the original release of the data from the Census Bureau. All 40 files have been combined into one file, with the exception of several large states. For these states, multiple files were written out.
The resulting file is hierarchical in structure because not all tables are available for each summary level. All tables are available for census tracts and higher levels of geography, such as places, counties, states, and metropolitan areas. However, only selected tables are available for blocks and block groups. This table describes the structure of these data in more detail.
A SAS Program has been provided to help users read the heirarchial data file.The only input needed from the users' end are statements flagging desired geographic and summary level selection.
Future Directions: All Census 2000 summary product releases are different than those from earlier censuses. Table 2 describes these differences in terms of advantages and disadvantages to the user. These changes in structure affect the usability of the data for users who are accustomed to pulling off multiple tables for a summary level across the entire nation (e.g., census tracts across the nation). We will continue to modify the structure and/or format of the files to meet the needs of the research community.
For example, our first modification has been to combine all the files into a single file, except for several large states. The next modification will be to write the data with a fixed format. Initially, this will be done for the summary levels that include census tracts and higher. Block level and block group level records will most likely be treated separately.
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