The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program publishes population numbers between censuses. Estimates from the Population Estimates Program are for the past, while projections provide population estimates for future dates.
The Census Bureau publishes July 1 estimates for years after the last decennial census (2010), as well as for past decades. Data series for births, deaths, and domestic and international migration are used to update the decennial census base counts.
The Population Estimates Program develops and prepares estimates of the population by age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin for the nation, states and counties; estimates of the total population of functioning governmental units; and estimates of the number of housing units for states and counties. These estimates are consistent with the decennial census residence definition of usual residence and represent the Census Bureau's official estimates of updated census counts for these areas.
Data are released on a flow basis in increasing geographic detail. The typical schedule of release is:
These estimates are used in federal funding allocations as denominators for vital rates and per capita time series, as survey controls, and in monitoring recent demographic changes. With each new issue of July 1 estimates, the Census Bureau revises estimates for years back to the last census. Previously published estimates are superseded and archived.
Although the American Community Survey (ACS) also produces population, demographic and housing unit estimates, it is the Population Estimates Program that produces and disseminates the official estimates of the population for the nation, states, counties, cities and towns and estimates of housing units for states and counties.
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