SUMMER 2002 | Volume 77, Number 2
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Census Facts Revealed: A Census 2000 Update
A snippet of long form data was released to us in May. Here is a smattering of what we have learned so far:
- 82 percent of adults have a high school diploma (or equivalency) or more.
- 48,181 grandparents in Indiana live with and are responsible for their grandchildren.
- Nearly 70 percent of Hoosiers living somewhere in Indiana when the census was taken in the spring of 2000 were also born in Indiana, compared to 60 percent nationally.
- 23 percent of Hoosiers reported their ancestry as German.
- 362,082 people age 5 and older speak a language other than English at home. More than half of those spoke English 'very well.'
- 352,687 people were enrolled in college or graduate school in Indiana.
- One out of five Hoosiers age 5 and older (and not in an institution) reported a disability.
- 12 percent of the population 15 and older were either separated or divorced.
- More than two out of three people widowed were women.
- Everyone must drive, since 60 percent of households had two or more vehicles
available.
What We Don't Know Yet
These facts are not yet available at the census tract or block group level of geographic detail, which is what provides us with information about our communities at the neighborhood level. The 77 individual files that comprise Indiana's Summary File 3 should be released to us in September.
Many agencies in Indiana are anxious for this release. The file, called SF3 for shortened convenience, contains important information for our communities and neighborhoods. These data will be used to help inform the Urban Enterprise Zone program, for applications to the Community Development Block Grant Program, in newspaper and television and radio stories, and by hundreds of businesses and local governments attempting to enlighten their work with a comprehensive, standard set of information that is comparable across the state and throughout the United States.
If you need to keep tabs on the SF3 release schedule, you can visit the schedule link provided at www.census.indiana.edu.
