1 Adjusted to include units in Alaska and Hawaii which adopted statehoodin 1959.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau,Census of Governments, Government Organization", series (GC(1)-1), quinquennial.

http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/govern.html*CENSUS OF GOVERNMENTS

PURPOSE

To provide periodic and comprehensive statistics about governments and governmental activities. The United States Code,Title 13, requires this census and provides for voluntary responses.

COVERAGE

All state and local governments in the U.S. Local governments include counties, cities, townships, special districts andschool districts. Government activities are those classified in SIC Division J and selected other Divisions (such as stateliquor stores, Division G, and education services, Division I). Data for Federal agencies are reformatted and included toshow total public sector activities. In 1995, government purchases of goods and services accounted for 12 percent of theGross Domestic Product.

CONTENT

Data are obtained on government organizations, finances, and employment. Organizations data include location, type, andcharacteristics of local governments and officials. Finances and employment data are the same as in comparable annualsurveys and include revenue, expenditures, debt, assets, employees, payroll, and benefits.

FREQUENCY

Every 5 years since 1957, for years ending in "2" and "7." Reference periods for data vary by census phase; organizationcounts are for the calendar year prior to the census year, assessment and finance data are for the fiscal year prior to July, andemployment data are for October of the census year. Starting in 1997, employment will be for March of the census year.

METHODS

A three-phased state and local government data collection, supplemented by data from Federal agencies. Phase 1 is apre-census directory survey of all 85,000 local governments. It is primarily a mail-out/mail-back survey; and produces anupdated list of all local governments and selected data.

Phase 2 expands the census-year annual finances survey from about 13,000 to all 85,000 local governments. It uses on-sitedata collections for all states and some 130 large local governments, consolidated data submissions (usually on computertapes) for about 50,000 additional local governments, and a mail-out/mail-back survey of other governments. Similarly,phase 3 expands the census-year annual employment survey from about 13,000 to all local governments; and relies on bothconsolidated data submissions and a mail-out/mail-back survey.

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