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 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 19, 2012 (EMBARGO LIFTED) Census Bureau Releases 2011 American Community  Survey Estimates Topics Include Local Estimates on Income, Poverty, Health Insurance and More The U.S. Census Bureau  today released findings from the 2011 American Community Survey. The survey provides a wide range of important statistics  about our nation's people, housing and economy for all communities in the  country. The results are used by everyone from retailers, homebuilders and  police departments, to town and city planners. The survey is the only source of  local estimates for most of the 40 topics it covers, such as educational  attainment, occupation, language spoken at home, nativity, ancestry and  selected monthly homeowner costs down to the smallest communities. On Sept. 12, the Census  Bureau released national statistics on 2011 income, poverty and health  insurance coverage from the Current Population Survey. The American Community  Survey includes 2011 statistics for states, cities and smaller areas. "The American Community Survey provides reliable,  local statistics about our nation's people, housing and economy that are indispensable to anyone who has to make decisions about the future," Census  Bureau Acting Director Thomas Mesenbourg said. "Businesses rely on it to plan and  expand into new products or communities. Towns and cities use it to locate  schools and firehouses." Since the first census in 1790, conducted under the direction  of Thomas Jefferson, census questions have collected information on the  demographic characteristics of the nation's population. The estimates released today are available in detailed tables  for the nation, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, every  congressional district, every metropolitan area, and all counties and places  with populations of 65,000 or more. See the Census Bureau's American FactFinder database to find statistics for your area. Also released today were three short reports supplementing  detailed tables with additional analysis on three key topics: income, poverty  and health insurance. **Income** According to the report *Household  Income for States: 2010 and 2011,* which presents statistics on median  household income at the national and state levels: In 2011, median household income ranged from $36,919  in Mississippi to $70,004 in Maryland.

  Median household incomes were lower than the  U.S. median of $50,502 in 27 states and higher in 19 states and the District of  Columbia. North Dakota, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Pennsylvania median household  incomes did not have a statistically significant difference from the U.S. as a  whole.
  Between the 2010 and 2011 American Community  Survey, Vermont was the only state that showed an increase in median household  income. Meanwhile, median household income declined in 18 states. The state median  household income decreases ranged from 1.1 percent in Ohio to 6.0 percent in  Nevada.

  In 32 states and the District of Columbia, the  difference in median household income between 2010 and 2011 was not  statistically significant.

  The Gini Index, which measures income  inequality, rose in 20 states and remained statistically unchanged in the other  30 and the District of Columbia. **Poverty** According to the report *Poverty:  2010 and 2011,* which compares poverty rates in 2010 and 2011 for the nation,  states and large metropolitan areas: Among the 50 states and the District of  Columbia, New Hampshire (8.8 percent) had the lowest poverty rate, and  Mississippi (22.6 percent) had one of the highest poverty rates.


  Among metro areas with populations of 500,000 or  more, poverty rates ranged from a low of 8.3 percent in the Washington metro  area, to 37.7 percent in McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas.

  The number and percentage of people in poverty  increased in 17 states between 2010 and 2011. For 10 states, this was the third  consecutive annual increase. In five states, the number of people in poverty  increased while the poverty rates did not increase.

  Between the 2010 and 2011 American Community  Survey, both the percentage and number of people in poverty in Vermont  declined.

  In  27 states and the District of Columbia, there was no change in either the  number of people in poverty or the poverty rate. **Health  Insurance** A third report is *Health Insurance Coverage of Young  Adults Aged 19 to 25: 2008, 2009, and 2011*. Highlights include: While  the insured rate of young adults (age 19 to 25) rose from 68.3 percent in 2009  to 71.8 percent in 2011, the rate for those 26 to 29 continued to decline, from  71.1 percent to 70.3 percent.

  No  state experienced a decline in the insured rate of young adults from 2009 to  2011, while 37 states and the District of Columbia had an increase in coverage.

  Vermont  had the highest increase in coverage among the young adult population,  increasing from an insured rate of 75.2 percent in 2009 to 89.1 percent in  2011.

  Arizona,  Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii and Louisiana had increases in the overall insured  rate but not in the privately insured rate. Conversely, Arkansas, Mississippi,  New Hampshire, South Dakota and Washington saw increases in the private health  insurance rate of young adults but not in the overall insurance rate. **Additional American Community Survey Results** On Oct. 25, the Census Bureau will release a set of American Community  Survey statistics covering all areas with populations of 20,000 or more, based  on data collected between 2009 and 2011. A third set of ACS statistics,  available for all geographic areas regardless of population size, down to the  block group level, will be released on Dec. 6; these estimates will cover 2007-2011. More than a dozen  additional short reports, or briefs, will be released through the end of the  year and into early next year. Topics covered include centenarians,  multigenerational households, veterans, people with disabilities, public  assistance, field of degree and earnings, the Asian foreign-born population,  commuting, poverty and household sharing, the structural characteristics of  housing, and mixed-nativity married couples. **Methodology** As is the case with all surveys, statistics from sample surveys  are subject to sampling and nonsampling error. All comparisons made in the  reports have been tested and found to be statistically significant at the 90  percent confidence level, unless otherwise noted. Please consult the tables for specific  margins of error. For more information, go to
  <https://www.census.gov/acs/www/data_documentation/documentation_main/>. Changes in survey design from year to year can affect results. See <https://www.census.gov/acs/www/data_documentation/2011_release/>  for more information on changes affecting the 2011 statistics. See <https://www.census.gov/acs/www/guidance_for_data_users/comparing_2011/>  for guidance on comparing 2011 American Community Survey statistics with previous  years and the 2010 Census.
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