Census Bureau Issues 130th Ed of Government’s Best-Selling Reference Book

By Sonia Isotov

The latest edition of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2011 is now available for free online.

The Abstract is perennially the federal government’s best-selling reference book, and contains 1,407 tables of social, political and economic facts.

Sources used can be distilled down to the state and county level, and sometimes smaller geographic regions, by using the U.S. Census Bureau website in combination with the sources found at the bottom of the statistical tables, i.e. Hawaii, Maui County, etc.

When it was first published in 1878, the nation had only 38 states, people usually got around using a horse and buggy, Miami and Las Vegas did not yet exist, and Franklin D. Roosevelt had yet to be born. The Abstract has been published nearly every year since then.

Contained in the 130th edition are 1,407 tables of social, political and economic facts that collectively describe the state of our nation and the world. Included this year are 65 new tables, covering topics such as insufficient rest or sleep, nursing home occupancy, homeschooling, earthquakes, U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions, organic farmland, honey bee colonies, crashes involving distracted drivers and cities with the highest transit savings.

The statistics come not only from the Census Bureau but also from other governmental agencies and private organizations. The data generally represent the most recent year or period available by summer 2010. Most are national-level data, but some tables present state- and even city- and metropolitan-level data as well.

Every edition of the Statistical Abstract dating back to 1878 is available in PDF or zip files on the Census Bureau’s website at <http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/>.