Census Population Estimates Program (PEP)
The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program produces the official annual
population totals for the nation, states, counties, metropolitan areas, and places
between the once-a-decade censuses. It is the source of the population counts used
as the denominator for most per-capita rates in this Commons.
Coverage
Base Data Commons graph
Source & License
- Publisher: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program.
- Access: Published at census.gov/popest; served into this Commons through the Google Data Commons base graph.
- License: Public domain. A work of the U.S. Government, free to use and redistribute with attribution to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Methodology
- Cohort-component method: each year's estimate starts from the most recent decennial census and updates it with administrative records for the components of change — births, deaths, and net migration (domestic and international).
- Vintages: PEP is released in annual "vintages," and each new vintage revises the entire back-series to the latest decennial base. Numbers for a past year can therefore change between vintages; always read a single vintage as one consistent time series.
- Reference date: county and place totals are as of July 1 of each year.
Coverage & caveats
- Geographies: nation, states, counties, metropolitan/micropolitan areas, and incorporated places.
- Estimates, not counts: PEP figures are modeled estimates, distinct from the decennial census enumeration, and are the Census Bureau's official population numbers for intercensal years.
- Denominator of record: these totals, not ACS population, are the intended base for official rate calculations.
Variables (1)
| Variable | Source table |
|---|
|
Total population
Count of person.
Population personMeasured countStatistic measured value
|
Vintage annual population estimates |