2012 Census of Governments Collection

Purpose of the Census

The U.S. Census Bureau conducts the 2012 Census of Governments: Finance Component as authorized by Title 13, U.S. Code, Section 161 to provide state and local government data on revenues, expenditures, financial assets and indebtedness.

Types of data collected

General-Purpose Governments, Special Districts, and School Districts: Revenue data include taxes, charges, interest, intergovernmental revenues, and other earnings. Expenditure data include total by function (such as education and police protection) and by character (such as current operations and capital outlays). Debt data include issuance, retirement, and amounts outstanding. Financial assets data include cash and security holdings, by purpose.

Government financial data are presented in four activity sectors: general government, utilities, liquor stores and insurance trust activities.

Pension Systems: Data collected include revenues, expenditures, financial assets, membership, and liabilities for public pension systems.

Types of governments included

The survey provides information on the nearly 90,000 state and local governments, including counties, cities, townships, special districts and school districts. Additionally, information is collected from approximately 4,000 public pension systems that serve the employees of state and local governments.

Data collected

The questions we ask and the finance concepts used in the 2012 Census of Governments: Finance are the same as those used in related programs including the Annual Survey of State Government Finance, Local Education Agency Finance Survey, Annual Survey of Local Government Finances, Annual Survey of Public Pensions, Annual Survey of Public Employment & Payroll, and the Integrated Post secondary Education Data System provided by the Department of Education.

Fiscal year covered

Data in this survey refer to the fiscal year that ended between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012.

F-11 Locally-Administered Defined Benefit Plans [PDF, 113KB]
F-12 State-Administered Defined Benefit Plans [PDF, 171KB]	F-12(S) Supplement to State-Administered Pension Plans Form [PDF, 178KB]
F-28 County, Muncipal and Township [PDF, 309KB]	F-29 Multi-Function Special Agencies Form [PDF, 210KB]
F-32 Special Agencies [PDF, 188KB]	F-42 School Building Agencies [PDF, 88KB]