The census tells us much about America’s communities – its people, its families, its homes – and about how people live their lives. It gives a statistical snapshot of the country as a whole, for America’s cities and counties, or its neighborhood areas (census tracts and census blocks). If you want statistics about your city or your neighborhood, the census is the place to turn.

The Census Bureau has released Summary File 1 (SF 1) – as the first of four summary files with detailed statistics from Census 2000, representing input for 281 million people living in 105 million housing units.

SF 1 is one of the most popular files from the census. It satisfies the needs of a wide variety of users – planners looking at population density in studies of services needed for proposed housing developments; local governments assessing the need for schools, recreation centers, or convalescent centers; or businesses trying to pick the most advantageous locations for their franchises.