For most sectors, a search through various reports in the geographic series should occur because those looking for information in a particular area may need to pull numbers from several reports. For those with sufficient patience to wade through them, however, the reports from the economic censuses provide a wealth of data. Although comparisons over time can be made at the level of the state with bridging tables, that is not possible at the present time with county-level data. Thus, the utility of the 1997 series for counties is less than what they were when one classification system prevailed for several censuses. Census of Governments Probably the least examined of the censuses conducted by the bureau are those that involve governments.
Coverage involves all state and local governments in the United States.
At the local level, counties, cities, townships, school districts, and special districts are examined. Like the agriculture and economic censuses, the one of governments is conducted in years ending in 2 and 7. Iowa s average of 18.9 per county was the lowest of the Midwestern states. Indiana was between those extremes with 3,199 government units and 34.8 per county on average. General purpose governments accounted for 1,668 units, which included 569 municipalities and 1,008 towns or townships in that state.