County and City Extra 2015: Annual Metro, City, and County Data Book (County and City Extra Series) - Hardcover

Deirdre A. Gaquin has been a data use consultant to private organizations, government agencies, and universities for over 25 years. Prior to that, she was Director of Data Access Services at Data Use & Access Laboratories, a pioneer in private sector distribution of federal statistical data. A former President of the Association of Public Data Users, Ms. Gaquin has served on numerous boards, panels, and task forces concerned with federal statistical data and has worked on four decennial censuses. She holds a Master of Urban Planning (MUP) degree from Hunter College. Ms. Gaquin is also an editor of Bernan Press's Congressional District Atlas; The Who, What, and Where of America: Understanding the American Community Survey; Places, Towns and Townships; and The Almanac of American Education.

Mary Meghan Ryan is a senior research editor with Bernan Press.

INTRODUCTION

County and City Extra is an annual publication that provides the most up-to-date statistical information available for every state, county, metropolitan area, and congressional district, as well as all cities in the United States with a 2010 census population of 25,000 or more. Data for places, including towns and cities with populations of fewer than 25,000 people are published by Bernan Press in a separate companion volume, Places, Towns and Townships. These two volumes are designed to meet the needs of libraries, businesses, and other organizations or individuals who desire convenient and timely sources of the most frequently sought information about geographic entities within the United States. The annual updating of County and City Extra for more than 20 years ensures its stature as a reliable and authoritative source for statistical information.

Bernan Press has recently published a new companion volume, the State and Metropolitan Area Data Book, previously published by the Census Bureau. That edition provides an expanded collection of data about states and metropolitan areas, including micropolitan areas and their component counties. Another recent addition is the County and City Extra: Special Historical Edition, 1790-2010 with data from the earliest days of the nation, and states, counties, and cities from their beginnings.

County and City Extra, Places, Towns and Townships, and State and Metropolitan Area Data Book are large volumes, but are not big enough to accommodate the wealth of information from the decennial census and the American Community Survey. Two additional volumes in the County and City Extra series include this information. County and City Extra—Special Decennial Census Edition provides detailed population and housing data from the 2010 census and was published by Bernan Press in December 2011. The Who, What, and Where of America—Understanding the American Community Survey includes social and economic details from the ongoing American Community Survey, and the County and City Extra Series includes additional books on special topics, such as the recently published Aging in America.

The American Community Survey (ACS) is a national survey that has replaced the census long form as the key source of detailed social and economic data. County and City Extra includes data from both the 2010 census and the ACS.

New and Updated Information for the 2015 Edition

County and City Extra includes updated data including 2014 population estimates for states, counties, metropolitan areas, and cities. Also included are the latest available data for education, vital statistics, income and poverty, employment and unemployment, residential construction, production by industry, health resources, crime, land use, city government finances, and many other topics.

This edition includes state finance data from the 2013 Annual Survey of State Government Finance and newly released finance data from the 2012 Census of Governments. Tables B and C include finance data for all government entities operating within each county and each metropolitan area. Table D includes municipal government finance data.

Table E (Congressional Districts) includes a wide selection of 2013 American Community Survey data, Social Security data, and data from the 2012 Census of Agriculture for the congressional districts of the 113th Congress, along with the 114th Congressional representatives.

In February 2013, the Office of Management and Budget released a completely new list of Core Based Statistical Areas (metropolitan and micropolitan areas) based on the 2010 census and some changes in the way these areas are defined. These newly delineated metropolitan areas are used in Table C. Appendixes B and C provide details about the component counties of these metropolitan and micropolitan areas and their 2010 census and 2014 estimated populations. Appendix D has a map for each state showing the metropolitan and micropolitan areas.

This edition includes data from the 2010 census, 2013 and 2014 population estimates, and the ACS. Annual ACS data are available for all states and almost all metropolitan areas (all geographic areas with populations of 65,000 or more), but three years are needed to build a sample large enough for reliable estimates for areas of 20,000 to 64,999, and smaller areas need five years of data collection.

With the now annual release of 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year estimates, County and City Extra uses ACS data for all geographic areas. ACS 1-year data for 2013 are included in Table A (States), Table C (metropolitan areas) and Table E (Congressional Districts)—all areas with populations of 65,000 or more. Table B (Counties), includes 5-year data (2009-2013). and Table D (Cities) includes 3-year data (2011-2013.) The release of 5-year data for even the smallest geographic areas means that annual social and economic characteristics are available for all counties and cities. .

Although some of the state data are also included in Table B (States and Counties), the separate state data table offers several important features:

• Additional data not available at the county level are provided. Examples include population projections, health insurance coverage, number of immigrants, personal tax payments, information about health service firms not subject to federal tax, and exports by state of origin.

• Additional data that exceeds the space limitations for counties can be found for states. Examples are age of householder, more detailed information about employment in retail trade and services, and the expanded presentation of federal grants and payments to individuals by type.

• State totals can be found more quickly and compared more readily.

Appendix F, Source Notes and Explanations, includes internet references for all data sources. This is especially helpful in today’s environment where the data sources are updated at a faster pace. The sources referenced here can be used to track down additional information too cumbersome for this book. Some of the data can be directly found in data tables on the websites; some can be assembled through on-line access tools; others can be obtained by downloading files and processing them with statistical software; and some need to be ordered from the agencies.
Rankings
The rankings present the geography types by various subjects, including population, land area, population density, population change, age, immigration, birth rate, , housing characteristics, race, Hispanic origin, educational attainment, income, unemployment rate, per capita local taxes, poverty rate, defense contracts, value of agricultural products, and violent crime rate.

Subjects Covered and Volume Organization

The main body of this volume contains five basic parts. Each part includes a table that is preceded by highlights and rankings, as well as the complete column headings for the table. Part A, contains data for states. Part B, contains information for states and counties. The county geography codes include county typology codes from the Economic Research Service of the Department of Agriculture. These codes characterize counties by size of the largest place as well as by other criteria for nonmetropolitan counties. (See Appendix A for the definition of each code.) Part C contains information for metropolitan areas. Statistics for cities with a 2010 census population of 25,000 or more can be found in Part D. Part E contains data for the congressional districts of the 113th Congress.

A contents page preceding tables B through E lists the page number on which the data for a given geographic area begin. Counties and cities are listed alphabetically by state. Metropolitan areas are listed alphabetically, except that metropolitan divisions are listed alphabetically within the metropolitan statistical area of which they are components. Congressional districts are listed in numeric order within states.

The appendixes include definitions of geographic concepts (Appendix A), sources and definitions of each data item included in this volume (Appendix F), an alphabetical listing of metropolitan areas with their component counties delineated as of February 2013, with 2010 census populations (Appendix B), a listing of metropolitan and micropolitan areas and their component counties as of February 2013, with 2010 census populations and 2014 estimated populations (Appendix C), a list of cities by county (Appendix E), and maps showing congressional districts in the United States; and metropolitan areas, counties and selected places within each state (Appendix D).

Symbols
DIndicates that the number has been withheld to avoid disclosure of information pertaining to a specific organization or individual, or because the number does not meet statistical standards for publication.

NAIndicates that data are not available.

XIndicates that data are not applicable or are not meaningful for this geographic unit.

In this volume, a figure that is less than half the unit of measure shown will appear as zero.

Sources
The great majority of the data in this volume have been obtained from federal government sources. A few items are obtained from private sources that are widely recognized as reliable basic sources of those particular data items. For a complete list of these sources, see Appendix F.

Data included in this volume meet the publication standards established by the U.S. Census Bureau and the other federal statistical agencies from which they were obtained. Every effort has been made to select data that are accurate, meaningful, and useful. All data from censuses, surveys, and administrative records are subject to errors arising from factors such as sampling variability, reporting errors, incomplete coverage, nonresponse, imputations, and processing error. Responsibility of the editors and publishers of this volume is limited to reasonable care in the reproduction and presentation of data obtained from sources believed to be reliable.

County and City Extra: Annual Metro, City, and County Data Book is part of Bernan Press’s County and City Extra series. The editors of County and City Extra acknowledge the contributions of Courtenay Slater and the late George Hall, the originators of this publication. Their initial contributions continue to enrich the County and City Extra series. As always, we are especially grateful to the many federal agency personnel who assisted us in obtaining the data, provided excellent resources on their Web sites, and patiently answered questions.