Contents

• Introduction
  
  1. Current Dollars
     
  2. Fiscal Years
     
  3. Collection of Statistics on Governments
     
  4. Limitations of Data
     

• File Descriptions and Record Layouts
  
  1. Viewable Tables and Downloadable Spreadsheet File
  2. Individual Unit - Public Use Format File
  3. State by Level and Type-of-Government Summaries - Public Use Format File
  4. County Area Item Code Summaries - Public Use Format File
  5. State by Level and Type-of-Government Summaries - Comma-delimited Format File
  6. Directory Information File for the Individual Unit File
  7. Directory Information File for the County-Area file

• Code Definitions
  
• Data Dictionary
  
• Sources and Contacts

The United States Bureau of the Census conducts a census of governments at 5-year intervals as required by law under Title 13, United States Code, Section 161. The 2002 census, similar to those taken since 1957, covers the entire range of government financial activities (revenue, expenditure, debt, and assets). The census survey results yield a series of tables and files that provide users with comprehensive statistical information about state and local government economic activity. In non-census years the Annual Survey of Government Finance is conducted covering equivalent data detail.

Current Dollars

The statistics in these tables and files are in terms of current dollar amounts. They have not been adjusted for price level changes occurring through the years.

 top 

Fiscal Years

Data in these tables and files pertain to the governments' 12-month fiscal years. The data for 2002 reflect individual government fiscal years that ended between July 1, 2001 and June 30, 2002.

 top 

Collection of Statistics on Governments

The data collection phase for the annual survey made use of two methods to obtain data: mail canvass and central collection from state sources. In about 30 states, all or part of the data for local governments was obtained from cooperative arrangements between the Census Bureau and a state government agency. These usually involved a data collection effort carried out to meet the needs of both agencies -- the state agency for purposes of audit, oversight, or information, and the Census Bureau for statistical purposes.

 top 

Data for the balance of local governments in this survey were obtained via mail questionnaires sent directly to county, municipal, township, special district, and school district governments.

Data for state governments were compiled by analysts of the Census Bureau, usually with the cooperation and assistance of state officials. The data were compiled from state government audits, budgets, and other financial reports, either in printed or electronic format. The compilation generally involved recasting the state financial records into the classification categories used for reporting by the Census Bureau.

 top 

Limitations of Data

Although the data in a census are not subject to sampling error, the data are subject to various nonsampling errors. For this census, these errors may include response errors, errors caused by nonresponse, and processing errors. Every effort is made to keep these errors at a minimum.

All schedules - mail canvass, those compiled by Census Bureau-trained enumerators from official sources, field enumerated, and centrally collected--were examined for evidence of completeness, internal consistency, and a reasonable relation to figures reported for earlier periods. In addition to the manual review, a computerized edit flagged impossible or improbable entries and identified in detail the differences with prior data. Analysts reviewed and corrected these problems.

These procedures applied to the 2002 Census of Governments were designed to achieve, for the data reported here, a high standard of completeness and accuracy. Undoubtedly, however, some mistakes and inconsistencies of official reporting, or of Census Bureau handling of particular items, have escaped detection. Please inform the Governments Division, U.S. Census Bureau, if the tables or data reveal potential problems.

After using the extensive followup efforts detailed in the data collection section, only a minor percentage of the data file--representing nearly all small county, municipal or township governments--remained incomplete. Only 10.7 percent of counties, and 18.5 percent of the municipalities and townships, and 35.3 percent of the special districts were total nonrespondents to the census. Imputations were done for these missing data.

For counties, municipalities and townships that failed to respond, missing data were imputed by using the most recently reported prior census or annual survey data. These data were adjusted by median growth rates calculated from similar types of governments, i.e., in the same state, type, and about the same size. The appropriate growth rate was applied to the nonreporting government's year data to get a current year imputed value. For general purpose governments that failed to report in the prior census or subsequent annual surveys, a responding county, municipality or township from the same group as the nonrespondent was randomly selected and per capita values for the respondent were multiplied by the population of the nonrespondent to get imputed values for the nonrespondent.

For special districts, because of an initial lower response to the mail canvass than for general purpose governments, the special district government portion of the 2002 Census of Governments employed secondary sources and followups more extensively. These efforts included using: 2001 fiscal year data if they were available; summary financial data obtained during the organization phase of the 2002 Census of Governments; the American Hospital Association; Mergent Municipal and Government Manual; Bond Buyer's database; and various state agencies and departments.

All imputations for special districts were generally done within a function code by geographic level (state, census division, region, or national). For nondebt units that responded in 1997 but not in 2002, median growth rates (calculated from similar units who responded in both 1997 and 2002) were applied to the nonrespondents' 1997 data to generate 2002 data. If the 2002 nonresponding special district had no 1997 data available, a random hot-deck method was applied. Since most of the large special districts responded to the survey, these units were left out of the 2002 respondent donor pool. Only 2002 special districts with revenue or expenditure less than $5 million and debt less than $15 million were included in the pool. Only units with the same function code were included in the donor pool for the nonrespondents of that function code. In other words, only small respondent library districts were used as donors for small nonrespondent library districts. Because of extreme volatility of the data for gas supply utilities, electric power utilities, water transportation districts, and hospital districts, prior year data were not used for imputations. The hot-deck method was used to impute data for these units. For those units that had survey data from 1998 to 2001, we adjusted the most recently reported debt by adding recent debt acquired and subtracting debt retired to get to the current year. For those units for which debt could not be derived from prior survey data, we used a respondent donor from a similar government.

 top 

File Descriptions and Record Layouts

A listing of Type/Level-of-Government codes and the item code detail is shown at the end of this documentation. It applies to multiple data files and can be loaded into a file for application. A listing of the state names, codes and abbreviations is also located at the end of the documentation.

Viewable tables and Spreadsheet File

The layout of the viewable tables and the spreadsheet are the same. Descriptive text for each row of data is self explanatory. The viewable tables are in html format. The spreadsheet file is in Microsoft Excel format.

 top 

Individual Unit File

Also known as the "Public Use" 35-character ASCII text file. This file has a fixed record layout, but contains variable record counts per unit of government. There are no records that contain "zero" dollars for any data item. Also, any records that were imputed were dropped.

Description: 2002 Census of Governments finance detail data (no summary amounts)

File Type: ASCII

Compressed filename and size: 02indunit.zip (8.2Mb) (includes the id record file and data item file)

Inflated Filenames and sizes:
02indunit.txt (42.6 Mb)
02fingid.txt (13.8 Mb)

INDIVIDUAL UNIT PUBLIC USE DATA FILE FORMAT
Field Name	Positions	Start Position	Length	Characteristic
Government Code   01-02 State code   03-03 Type code   04-06 County code   07-09 Unit code   10-12 Sup code   13-14 Sub code or for State by Type-of-Government Summary Files   01-02 State code   03-03 Type/Level code	01 - 14	01	14	Numeric, zero filled
Item Code	15 - 17	15	3	Alpha numeric
Amount (in $1000)	18 - 29	18	12	Numeric
Filler	30 - 35	30	6	Always blank

 top 

State by Level and Type-of-Government Summary Detail File

Compressed filename and size: 02statetypepu.zip (.39Mb)

This file contains the same record layout as the Individual Unit, described above. It has a fixed record layout, but contains variable record counts per type of government. There are no records that contain "zero" dollars for any data item. This file is the individual unit file, with imputes included, summed to state-area, level and type of government.

File Type: ASCII

Inflated filename and size: 02statetypepu.txt (1.9 Mb)

 top 

County-Area Item Code File

This file contains the same record layout as the Individual Unit, described above. It has a fixed record layout, but contains variable record counts per type of government. There are no records that contain "zero" dollars for any data item. This file is the individual unit file, with imputes included, summed to the 3,136 county-areas.

File Type: ASCII

Compressed filename and size: 02countyarea.zip (1.7Mb)

Inflated filename and size: 2002_census_state.county.txt (10.7Mb)

COUNTY-AREA PUBLIC USE DATA FILE FORMAT
Field Name	Positions	Start Position	Length	Characteristic
State code	01 - 02	01	02	Numeric, zero filled
County code	04 - 06	04	03	Numeric, zero filled
Item Code	15 - 17	15	3	Alpha numeric
Amount (in $1000)	18 - 29	18	12	Numeric
Year of Data	30 - 33	30	4	Numeric
Origin Code	34 - 35	34	2	"CA"

 top 

State by Level and Type-of-Government Summaries (Comma Delimited File):

Compressed filename and size: 02statetypecd.zip (.15Mb)

Inflated filename and size: 02statetypecd.txt (1.0Mb)

The record layout for these files are shown below. The file is in a fixed length comma-delimited format.

Field	Length	From	To	Delimiter Position
Item Code	3	1	3	4
United States: State and Local	12	5	16	17
United States: State Govt	12	18	29	30
United States: Local Govts	12	31	42	43
Alabama: State and Local	12	44	55	56
Alabama: State Govt	12	57	68	69
Alabama: Local Govts	12	70	81	82
Alaska: State and Local	12	83	94	95
Alaska: State Govt	12	96	107	108
Alaska: Local Govts	12	109	120	121
Arizona: State and Local	12	122	133	134
Arizona: State Govt	12	135	146	147
Arizona: Local Govts	12	148	159	160
Arkansas: State and Local	12	161	172	173
Arkansas: State Govt	12	174	185	186
Arkansas: Local Govts	12	187	198	199
California: State and Local	12	200	211	212
California: State Govt	12	213	224	225
California: Local Govts	12	226	237	238
Colorado: State and Local	12	239	250	251
Colorado: State Govt	12	252	263	264
Colorado: Local Govts	12	265	276	277
Connecticut: State and Local	12	278	289	290
Connecticut: State Govt	12	291	302	303
Connecticut: Local Govts	12	304	315	316
Delaware: State and Local	12	317	328	329
Delaware: State Govt	12	330	341	342
Delaware: Local Govts	12	343	354	355
District of Columbia	12	356	367	368
District of Columbia	12	369	380	381
District of Columbia	12	382	393	394
Florida: State and Local	12	395	406	407
Florida: State Govt	12	408	419	420
Florida: Local Govts	12	421	432	433
Georgia: State and Local	12	434	445	446
Georgia: State Govt	12	447	458	459
Georgia: Local Govts	12	460	471	472
Hawaii: State and Local	12	473	484	485
Hawaii: State Govt	12	486	497	498
Hawaii: Local Govts	12	499	510	511
Idaho: State and Local	12	512	523	524
Idaho: State Govt	12	525	536	537
Idaho: Local Govts	12	538	549	550
Illinois: State and Local	12	551	562	563
Illinois: State Govt	12	564	575	576
Illinois: Local Govts	12	577	588	589
Indiana: State and Local	12	590	601	602
Indiana: State Govt	12	603	614	615
Indiana: Local Govts	12	616	627	628
Iowa: State and Local	12	629	640	641
Iowa: State Govt	12	642	653	654
Iowa: Local Govts	12	655	666	667
Kansas: State and Local	12	668	679	680
Kansas: State Govt	12	681	692	693
Kansas: Local Govts	12	694	705	706
Kentucky: State and Local	12	707	718	719
Kentucky: State Govt	12	720	731	732
Kentucky: Local Govts	12	733	744	745
Louisiana: State and Local	12	746	757	758
Louisiana: State Govt	12	759	770	771
Louisiana: Local Govts	12	772	783	784
Maine: State and Local	12	785	796	797
Maine: State Govt	12	798	809	810
Maine: Local Govts	12	811	822	823
Maryland: State and Local	12	824	835	836
Maryland: State Govt	12	837	848	849
Maryland: Local Govts	12	850	861	862
Massachusetts: State and Local	12	863	874	875
Massachusetts: State Govt	12	876	887	888
Massachusetts: Local Govts	12	889	900	901
Michigan: State and Local	12	902	913	914
Michigan: State Govt	12	915	926	927
Michigan: Local Govts	12	928	939	940
Minnesota: State and Local	12	941	952	953
Minnesota: State Govt	12	954	965	966
Minnesota: Local Govts	12	967	978	979
Mississippi: State and Local	12	980	991	992
Mississippi: State Govt	12	993	1004	1005
Mississippi: Local Govts	12	1006	1017	1018
Missouri: State and Local	12	1019	1030	1031
Missouri: State Govt	12	1032	1043	1044
Missouri: Local Govts	12	1045	1056	1057
Montana: State and Local	12	1058	1069	1070
Montana: State Govt	12	1071	1082	1083
Montana: Local Govts	12	1084	1095	1096
Nebraska: State and Local	12	1097	1108	1109
Nebraska: State Govt	12	1110	1121	1122
Nebraska: Local Govts	12	1123	1134	1135
Nevada: State and Local	12	1136	1147	1148
Nevada: State Govt	12	1149	1160	1161
Nevada: Local Govts	12	1162	1173	1174
New Hampshire: State and Local	12	1175	1186	1187
New Hampshire: State Govt	12	1188	1199	1200
New Hampshire: Local Govts	12	1201	1212	1213
New Jersey: State and Local	12	1214	1225	1226
New Jersey: State Govt	12	1227	1238	1239
New Jersey: Local Govts	12	1240	1251	1252
New Mexico: State and Local	12	1253	1264	1265
New Mexico: State Govt	12	1266	1277	1278
New Mexico: Local Govts	12	1279	1290	1291
New York: State and Local	12	1292	1303	1304
New York: State Govt	12	1305	1316	1317
New York: Local Govts	12	1318	1329	1330
North Carolina: State and Local	12	1331	1342	1343
North Carolina: State Govt	12	1344	1355	1356
North Carolina: Local Govts	12	1357	1368	1369
North Dakota: State and Local	12	1370	1381	1382
North Dakota: State Govt	12	1383	1394	1395
North Dakota: Local Govts	12	1396	1407	1408
Ohio: State and Local	12	1409	1420	1421
Ohio: State Govt	12	1422	1433	1434
Ohio: Local Govts	12	1435	1446	1447
Oklahoma: State and Local	12	1448	1459	1460
Oklahoma: State Govt	12	1461	1472	1473
Oklahoma: Local Govts	12	1474	1485	1486
Oregon: State and Local	12	1487	1498	1499
Oregon: State Govt	12	1500	1511	1512
Oregon: Local Govts	12	1513	1524	1525
Pennsylvania: State and Local	12	1526	1537	1538
Pennsylvania: State Govt	12	1539	1550	1551
Pennsylvania: Local Govts	12	1552	1563	1564
Rhode Island: State and Local	12	1565	1576	1577
Rhode Island: State Govt	12	1578	1589	1590
Rhode Island: Local Govts	12	1591	1602	1603
South Carolina: State and Local	12	1604	1615	1616
South Carolina: State Govt	12	1617	1628	1629
South Carolina: Local Govts	12	1630	1641	1642
South Dakota: State and Local	12	1643	1654	1655
South Dakota: State Govt	12	1656	1667	1668
South Dakota: Local Govts	12	1669	1680	1681
Tennessee: State and Local	12	1682	1693	1694
Tennessee: State Govt	12	1695	1706	1707
Tennessee: Local Govts	12	1708	1719	1720
Texas: State and Local	12	1721	1732	1733
Texas: State Govt	12	1734	1745	1746
Texas: Local Govts	12	1747	1758	1759
Utah: State and Local	12	1760	1771	1772
Utah: State Govt	12	1773	1784	1785
Utah: Local Govts	12	1786	1797	1798
Vermont: State and Local	12	1799	1810	1811
Vermont: State Govt	12	1812	1823	1824
Vermont: Local Govts	12	1825	1836	1837
Virginia: State and Local	12	1838	1849	1850
Virginia: State Govt	12	1851	1862	1863
Virginia: Local Govts	12	1864	1875	1876
Washington: State and Local	12	1877	1888	1889
Washington: State Govt	12	1890	1901	1902
Washington: Local Govts	12	1903	1914	1915
West Virginia: State and Local	12	1916	1927	1928
West Virginia: State Govt	12	1929	1940	1941
West Virginia: Local Govts	12	1942	1953	1954
Wisconsin: State and Local	12	1955	1966	1967
Wisconsin: State Govt	12	1968	1979	1980
Wisconsin: Local Govts	12	1981	1992	1993
Wyoming: State and Local	12	1994	2005	2006
Wyoming: State Govt	12	2007	2018	2019
Wyoming: Local Govts	12	2020	2031

 top 

Directory File for the Individual Unit File:

Compressed filename and size: 02fingid.zip (1.5Mb)

Inflated filename and size: 02fingid.txt (13.5Mb)

The record layout is below. This file is an ASCII text, fixed length record format. It contains basic identifier information for each unit of government canvassed in the 2002 Census of Governments.

INDIVIDUAL UNIT - DIRECTORY FILE FORMAT
Field Name	Positions	Start Position	Length	Characteristic
State code	01 - 02	01	02	Numeric, zero filled
Type code	03 - 03	03	01	Numeric, zero filled
County code	04 - 06	04	03	Numeric, zero filled
Unit code	07 - 09	07	03	Numeric, zero filled
Supplement (SUP) code	10 - 12	10	03	Numeric, zero filled
Sub code	13 - 14	13	02	Numeric, zero filled
Government Name	15 - 78	15	64	Alpha-Numeric
County Name	79 - 113	79	35	Alpha-Numeric
FIPS State code	114 - 115	114	02	Numeric
FIPS County code	116 - 118	116	03	Numeric
FIPS Place code	119 - 123	119	05	Numeric
Population	124 - 132	124	09	Numeric
Population Year	133 - 134	133	02	Numeric
Enrollment	135 - 141	135	07	Numeric
Enrollment Year	142 - 143	142	02	Numeric
Function code	144 - 145	144	02	Numeric
School Level code (for schools)	146 - 147	146	02	Alpha-Numeric
Weight (for sample years)	148 - 154	148	07	Numeric
Fiscal Year End	155 - 158	155	04	Numeric
Survey Year	159 - 160	159	02	Numeric

 top 

Directory File for County-Areas

The record layout is below. This file is an ASCII text, fixed length record format. It contains basic identifier information for each of the 3,136 county-areas identified in the 2002 Census of Governments.

Compressed filename and size: 02countyareagid.zip (.2Mb)

Inflated filename and size: 02countyareagid.txt (1.3Mb)

COUNTY-AREA - DIRECTORY FILE FORMAT
Field Name	Positions	Start Position	Length	Characteristic
State code	01 - 02	01	02	Numeric, zero filled
County code	03 - 05	03	03	Numeric, zero filled
County Name	06 - 35	06	30	Alpha-Numeric
State Abbreviation	36 - 37	36	02	Alpha-Numeric
Population Year	38 - 41	38	04	Numeric
Population	42 - 51	42	10	Numeric
FIPS State code	52 - 53	52	02	Numeric
FIPS County code	54 - 56	54	03	Numeric

 top 

Code Definitions

State Abbreviations
State Name	Abbreviation	State Code
United States	US	00
Alabama	AL	01
Alaska	AK	02
Arizona	AZ	03
Arkansas	AR	04
California	CA	05
Colorado	CO	06
Connecticut	CT	07
Delaware	DE	08
District of Columbia	DC	09
Florida	FL	10
Georgia	GA	11
Hawaii	HI	12
Idaho	ID	13
Illinois	IL	14
Indiana	IN	15
Iowa	IA	16
Kansas	KS	17
Kentucky	KY	18
Louisiana	LA	19
Maine	ME	20
Maryland	MD	21
Massachusetts	MA	22
Michigan	MI	23
Minnesota	MN	24
Mississippi	MS	25
Missouri	MO	26
Montana	MT	27
Nebraska	NE	28
Nevada	NV	29
New Hampshire	NH	30
New Jersey	NJ	31
New Mexico	NM	32
New York	NY	33
North Carolina	NC	34
North Dakota	ND	35
Ohio	OH	36
Oklahoma	OK	37
Oregon	OR	38
Pennsylvania	PA	39
Rhode Island	RI	40
South Carolina	SC	41
South Dakota	SD	42
Tennessee	TN	43
Texas	TX	44
Utah	UT	45
Vermont	VT	46
Virginia	VA	47
Washington	WA	48
West Virginia	WV	49
Wisconsin	WI	50
Wyoming	WY	51

Individual Unit - Type-of-Government Codes

Type-Codes	Description
0	State
1	County
2	City
3	Township
4	Special District
5	Independent School District

Estimates - Type/Level-of-Government Summary Codes
Type-Codes	Description
0	National Summary
1	State and Local Total
2	State Government Total
3	Local Government Total
4	Federal and Indian Total
5	County Government Total
6	Municipal Government Total
7	Township Government Total
8	Special District Total
9	School District Total

 top 

Below are item codes and their titles, as included in the finance survey data files. Additional information about these codes, as well as descriptions and definitions, can be found in the Governments Finance and Employment Classification Manual.

 top 

Sources and Contacts

The Internet site for the Census Bureau's Governments Division contains other information that could be useful for interpreting and analyzing these data (tables and files), such as the Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances. An important information source for detailed definitions, classification issues, etc. is the Government Finance and Employment Classification Manual

For information about the tables, data files, or the state and local government finance survey program, users can contact us at:

Public Finance Analysis Branch, Governments Division – Govs.Finstaff@Census.Gov

The telephone number is 800-242-4523. The address is:

  Finance Branch
  Governments Division
  U.S. Census Bureau

  Washington, DC 20233

 top