For more than 100 years, the U.S. Census Bureau published a document that told the story of America. It wasn’t the story of who we hoped to be or a story of what we could be, but rather a story of who we are – by the numbers.
The most recent and most likely the last edition of the Statistical Abstract of the United States contains more than 1,400 tables. First published in 1878, this book tells the tale of the social, political and economic life of this country. However, the 2012 budget for the Census Bureau eliminates the program that publishes this book as well as other consumer references such as the USA Counties database, the State and Metropolitan Area Data Book and the County and City Data Book effective 1 October 2011.
The reason given for the elimination of the program is that almost all of the information is publicly available from other sources, thus saving the Government $2.9 million. The problem, for me, is that this resource provided by the Commerce Department was validated before being made public. Other providers of similar information might not take the time to check facts before providing them (are you listening Wikipedia?).
So what did this resource tell those of us who live in San Diego county?
- Out of the 121,164 patents granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2010, nearly a quarter of them (30,076) came from California. New York was second with 8,095 and Texas was third with 8,026.
- The U.S. Post Office handled 171 billion pieces of mail in 2010, down from a high of 213 billion in 2006. However, in December 2010 alone, 118 billion text messages were sent by cell phones.
- 37.3 percent of San Diego residents speak a language other than English at home. This compares with 20 percent of the total U.S. residents.
- Atlanta was the busiest airport in 2009 with 41.9 million passengers enplaning. Chicago (O’Hare) was second with 28.9 million passengers. San Diego was number 26 with 8.4 million passengers.
- 71 percent of all the hazardous material generated in the U.S. in 2009 came from 5 states: Texas, Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. These states generated 25 million tons of hazardous waste in 2009.
- The nationwide median (not average) sales price for a house in 2010 was $221,900. This is up from $216,700 in 2009.
- Mississippi remains the poorest state in the nation in term of median (not average) family income with $45,601. Maryland is the wealthiest with a median family income of $84,254. The U.S. median family income is $61,082.
Keeping in mind the phrase popularized by Mark Twain of “Lie, Damn lies and Statistics,” the Statistical Abstract of the United States is an interesting read and will be missed by those of us who are interested in the true story of us – the us we are right now at this moment.
You can find the Abstract at www.census.gov/compendia/statab/.