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Revised on December 20, 2001

NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS

From: LaVerne Vines Collins

Acting Associate Director for Communications

Subject: Policy on Disseminating Census 2000 Summary File 2 (SF2) data files to the Media

The following are the broad outlines of the Census Bureau's plans for disseminating Census 2000 Summary File 2 (SF2) data between December 2001and March 2002.

Embargoed News Release/Product Announcement General Guidance.

SF2 data will be available to bona fide media organizations on an embargoed basis beginning in December. In general, the embargo time will be four work days, with the embargo time beginning each week at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday and ending at 12:01 a.m. on the following Wednesday.

The Public Information Office anticipates two releases (VT and DC) during December. Because of the holidays, these initial releases will have an extended embargo, beginning on Wednesday, Dec. 19, at 9:00 a.m., and ending on Thursday, Dec. 27, at 12:01 a.m. The Census Bureau also plans to release SF2 files during January for Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, and Rhode Island.The smaller states were used as a test to understand the production and assembly of these files. Data releases for the remainder of the states will resume in February through April 2002.

As was the case with the dissemination of Summary File 1, a product announcement will be distributed when the data are placed on the Public Information Office's Internet embargo page <http://www.census.gov/dcmd/www/embargo/embargo_sumfile2.html>. To link to the FTP server where the data will reside, bona fide media should enter the Internet embargo page and click on "Summary File 2: Census 2000." User ID and password for FTP access remain the same as with previous releases. They are posted on the embargoed news release page.

Brief description of SF2:

Summary File 2 (SF2) contains 100 percent data compiled from questions asked of every person and about every housing unit. Population items include age, sex, race, ethnicity (Hispanic or Latino origin), household size and relationship and group quarters information. Housing items include vacancy status (whether the housing unit is vacant or occupied), and tenure (whether a housing unit is owner- or renter-occupied). The data are presented in 36 population tables and 11 housing tables. Each table is iterated for up to 249 racial and ethnic population groups provided they meet a population threshold of 100 people in that geographic area. If there are fewer than 100 people of a specified population group in a specific geographic area, no tables will be shown for that group in that area. An additional iteration includes the total population.

Population groups:

Total population
     132 racial categories
     39 Hispanic or Latino categories
     78 American Indian or Alaska Native tribal groupings

Summary data will be provided for the following geographic areas:
     States
     Counties
     County subdivisions
     Places
     Census tracts
     Hawaiian home lands
     State parts of American Indian/Alaska Native areas
     Tribal subdivisions
     State parts of metropolitan areas

NOTE: Census tracts (rather than blocks) are the lowest geographic-level tables available in SF2.

Where to find this information:

A listing of states that have been released and scheduled for release, along with links to the corresponding product announcements and supporting data files, may be found on the Web at <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2001/sumfile2.html>. In addition, links to all Census 2000 products may be found on the American FactFinder main page at <http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/BasicFactsServlet>. CDs and DVDs may be purchased online from the Customer Service Center (Telephone: 301-763-INFO (4636); e-mail: webmaster@census.gov).

For more information, contact Mark Tolbert or Stephen Buckner in the Census Bureau's Public Information Office on 301-457-3691.