Population coverage. This report includes the civilian noninstitutional population of the United States and approximately 841,000 members of the Armed Forces in the United States living off post or with their families on post, but excludes all other members of the Armed Forces. The poverty data also exclude unrelated individuals under 15 years of age. Poverty rates exclude inmates of institutions, Armed Forces members in barracks, and unrelated individuals under 15 years from the denominator as well as numerator.

Revised survey procedures. During the period from April 1984 through June 1985 the Bureau of the Census systematically introduced a new sample design for the Current Population Survey. The purposes of this new sample design are to update the sampling frame to the 1980-census base, to improve survey efficiency, and to improve the quality of the survey estimates. Most geographic areas selected for the new sampling frame, about 80 percent, were also included in the 1970-based design.

Symbols. A dash (-) represents zero or rounds to zero. The symbol "B" means that the base for the derived figure is less than 75,000. An "X" means not applicable, and "NA" means not available. The symbol "s" means that the median earnings and standard errors are not shown when the base is less than or equal to 5,000 persons. The symbol "r" means revised, based on 1980 census design.

Rounding. Percentages are rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent; therefore, the percentages in a distribution do not always add to exactly 100.0 percent. The totals, however, are always shown as 100.0. Moreover, individual figures are rounded to the nearest thousand without being adjusted to group totals, which are independently rounded; percentages are based on the unrounded numbers.

Geographic regions. The four major regions of the United States for which data are presented in this report represent groups of States as follows:

Northeast Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

South: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

West: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

North and West: Northeast, Midwest, and West Regions combined.

Tenure. A housing unit is "owner occupied" if the owner or co-owner lives in the unit, even if it is mortgaged or not fully paid for. A cooperative or condominium unit is "owner occupied" only if the owner or co-owner lives in it. All other occupied units are classified as "renter occupied," including units rented for cash rent and those occupied without payment of cash rent. For renter-occupied units, information was also obtained as to whether the unit was publicly owned or subsidized by the Federal, State, or Local government.

Metropolitan-nonmetropolitan residence. The population residing in metropolitan statistical areas (MSA's) constitutes the metropolitan population. MSA's are defined by the Office of Management and Budget for use in the presentation of statistics by agencies of the Federal Government. An MSA is a geographic area consisting of a large population nucleus, together with adjacent communities which have a high degree of economic and social integration with that nucleus. The definitions specify a boundary around each large city so as to include most or all its suburbs. Entire counties form the MSA building blocks, except in New England where cities and towns are used. The former term SMSA was changed to MSA in 1983.

An area qualifies for recognition as an MSA if (1) it includes a city of at least 50,000 population, or (2) it includes a Census Bureau-defined urbanized area of at least 50,000 with a total metropolitan population of at least 100,000 (75,000 in New England). In addition to the county containing the main city or urbanized area, an MSA may include other counties having strong

commuting ties to the central county. If specified conditions are met, certain large MSA's are designated as consolidated MSA's (CMSA's) and divided into component primary MSA's (PMSA's).

In July 1985, the CPS began carrying the metropolitan statistical area definitions announced by the Office of Management and Budget on June 30, 1984. Figures published from the CPS in the early 1980's and throughout most of the 1970's referred to metropolitan areas as defined on the basis of the 1970 census. Since there are important differences in the population classified as metropolitan using the 1970 and 1984 definitions, comparisons should be avoided.

The new CPS metropolitan estimates have consistently been higher than independent estimates of the metropolitan population prepared by the Census Bureau; the new CPS nonmetropolitan estimates have been lower than the independent estimates. The apparent overestimation of metropolitan and underestimation of nonmetropolitan population in the CPS relative to the Census Bureau's independent estimates should be taken into account when using the data.

Nonmetropolitan areas. The territory outside metropolitan statistical areas is referred to here as nonmetropolitan.

Central cities. The largest city in each MSA is always designated a central city. There may be additional central cities if specified requirements, designed to identify places of central character within the MSA, are met. Although the largest central cities are generally included in the title of the MSA, there may be central cities that are not part of the title. The balance of the MSA outside the central city or cities often is regarded as equivalent to "suburbs."

Outside central cities. The territory outside central cities of metropolitan statistical areas but within MSA's is referred to here as outside central cities.

Age. The age classification is based on the age of the person at the person's last birthday. The adult universe (i.e., population of marriageable age) now comprises persons 15 years old and over. Prior to 1980, the adult universe was 14 years old and over.

Race. The race of individuals was identified by a question that asked for self-identification of the person's race. Respondents were asked to select their race from a "flashcard" listing racial groups. (See facsimile in appendix C.)

The population is divided into five groups on the basis of race: White; Black; American Indian, Eskimo or Aleut: Asian or Pacific Islander; and Other races beginning

with March 1989. The last category includes any other race except the four mentioned. In most of the published tables "Other races" are shown in total population.

Marital status. The marital status classification identifies four major categories: single (never married), married, widowed, and divorced. These terms refer to the marital status at the time of the enumeration.

The category "married" is further divided into "married, spouse present," and "married, spouse absent." A person was classified as "married, spouse present" if the husband or wife was reported as a member of the household, even though he or she may have been temporarily absent on business or vacation, visiting, in a hospital, etc., at the time of the enumeration. The group "married, spouse absent" includes married persons living apart because either the husband or wife was employed and living at a considerable distance from home; was serving away from home in the Armed Forces; was residing in an institution; had moved to another area; had separated from their spouse because of marital discord; or had a different place of residence for any other reason.

Household. A household consists of all the persons who occupy a housing unit. A house, an apartment or other group of rooms, or a single room is regarded as a housing unit when it is occupied or intended for occupancy as separate living quarters; that is, when the occupants do not live and eat with any other persons in the structure and there is direct access from the outside or through a common hall.

A household includes the related family members and all the unrelated persons, if any, such as lodgers, foster children, wards, or employees who share the housing unit. A person living alone in a housing unit, or a group of unrelated persons sharing a housing unit as partners, is also counted as a household. The count of households excludes group quarters.

Head versus householder. Beginning with the 1980 CPS, the Bureau of the Census discontinued the use of the terms "head of household" and "head of family." Instead, the terms "householder" and "family householder" are used. Recent social changes have resulted in greater sharing of household responsibilities among the adult members, and therefore, have made the term "head" increasingly inappropriate in the analysis of household and family data. Specifically, the Bureau has discontinued its longtime practice of always classifying the husband as the reference person (head) when he and his wife are living together.

In this report, the term "householder" is used in the presentation of data that had previously been presented with the designation "head." The householder is the

first adult household member listed on the questionnaire. The instructions call for listing first the person (or one of the persons) in whose name the home is owned or rented. If a home is owned jointly by a married couple, either the husband or the wife may be listed first, thereby becoming the reference person, or householder, to whom the relationship of other household members is to be recorded.

Householder. The householder refers to the person (or one of the persons) in whose name the housing unit is owned or rented (maintained) or, if there is no such person, any adult member, excluding roomers, boarders, or paid employees. If the house is owned or rented jointly by a married couple, the householder may be either the husband or the wife. The person designated as the householder is the "reference person" to whom the relationship of all other household members, if any, is recorded.

Prior to 1980, the husband was always considered the householder in married-couple households. The number of householders is equal to the number of households. Also, the number of family householders is equal to the number of families.

Family. A family is a group of two persons or more (one of whom is the householder) related by birth, marriage, or adoption and residing together. All such persons (including related subfamily members) are considered as members of one family. Beginning with the 1980 CPS, unrelated subfamilies (referred to in the past as secondary families) are no longer included in the count of families, nor are the members of unrelated subfamilies included in the count of the family members.

Family household. A family household is a household maintained by a family (as defined above), and may include among the household members any unrelated persons (unrelated subfamily members and/or unrelated individuals) who may be residing there. The number of family households is equal to the number of families. The count of family household members differs from the count of family members, however, in that the family household members include all persons living in the household, whereas family members include only the householder and his/her relatives. (See the definition of Family.)

Married couple. A married couple, as defined for census purposes, is a husband and wife enumerated as members of the same household. The married couple may or may not have children living with them. The expression "husband-wife" or "married-couple" before the term "household," or "family," indicates that the household, family, or subfamily is maintained by a husband and wife. The number of married couples equals the count of married-couple families plus related and unrelated married-couple subfamilies.

Unrelated subfamily. An unrelated subfamily (formerly called a secondary family) is a married couple with or without children, or a single parent with one or more own never-married children under 18 years old living in a household. Unrelated subfamily members are not related to the householder. An unrelated subfamily may include persons such as guests, partners, roommates, or resident employees and their spouses and/or children. The number of unrelated subfamily members is included in the total number of household members, but is not included in the count of family members. Beginning in 1989, any person(s) who is not related to the householder and who is not the husband, wife, parent, or child in an unrelated subfamily is counted as an unrelated individual.

Unrelated individuals. Unrelated individuals are persons of any age (other than inmates of institutions) who are not living with any relatives. An unrelated individual may be (1) a person living alone or with nonrelatives only, (2) a roomer, boarder, or resident employee with no relatives in the household, or (3) a group quarters member who has no relatives living with him/her. Thus, a widow who occupies her house alone or with one or more other persons not related to her, a roomer not related to anyone else in the housing unit, a maid living as a member of her employer's household but with no relatives in the household, and a resident staff member in a hospital living apart from any relatives are all examples of unrelated individuals.

Own children and related children. "Own" children in a family are sons and daughters, including stepchildren and adopted children, of the householder. "Related" children in a family include own children and all other children in the household who are related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption. For each type of family unit identified in the CPS, the count of own children under 18 years old is limited to never-married children; however, "own children under 25" and "own children of any age," as the terms are used here, include all children regardless of marital status. The totals include never-married children living away from home in college dormitories.

The count of related children in families was formerly restricted to never-married children. However, beginning with data for 1968 the Bureau of the Census includes ever-married children under the category of related children. This change added approximately 20,000 children to the category of related children in March 1968.

Size of household or family. The term "size of household" includes all persons occupying a housing unit. "Size of family" includes the family householder and all other persons in the living quarters who are related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption.

Educational attainment. This classification refers to the highest level of school completed or the highest degree received. Beginning in January 1992, the CPS began using an educational attainment question similar to that used in the 1990 Decennial Census of Population and Housing. Consequently, data on educational attainment from the 1992 CPS are not directly comparable to CPS data for prior years. Prior to 1992, the CPS educational attainment data were derived from the combination of answers to questions concerning the highest grade of school attended by the person and whether or not that grade was finished. For a discussion of the change in the form of the question and some of the motivating factors behind the change, see the introductory text of this report.

Data on educational attainment are derived from a question that asks, "What is the highest level of school

has completed or the highest degree... has received?" The question on educational attainment applies only to progress in "regular" schools. Such schools include public, private, and parochial elementary and high schools (both junior and senior high), colleges, universities, and professional schools (whether day schools or night schools). Thus, regular schooling is that which may advance a person toward an elementary school certificate, a high school diploma, or a college, university, or professional school degree. Schooling in other than regular schools is counted only if the credits obtained are regarded as transferable to schools in the regular school system.

The category, "Associate degree" includes persons whose highest degree is an associate degree either in (1) an occupational program that prepares them for a specific occupation, and the course work may or may not be creditable toward a bachelor's degree or (2) an academic program primarily in the arts and sciences, and the course work is transferable to a bachelor's degree. Some examples of professional degrees include medicine, dentistry, chiropractic, optometry, osteopathic medicine, pharmacy, podiatry, veterinary medicine, law, and theology, but specifically exclude barber school, cosmetology, or other training for a specific trade.

Labor force and employment status. The definitions of labor force and employment status relate to the population 16 years old and over.

Employed. Employed persons comprise (1) all civilians who, during the survey week, did any work at all as paid employees or in their own business or profession or on their own farm, or who worked 15 hours or more as unpaid workers on a farm or in a business operated by a member of the family; and (2) all those who were not working but who had jobs or businesses from which they were temporarily absent because of illness, bad weather, vacation, or labor-management dispute, or because they were taking time off for personal reasons, whether

or not they were paid by their employers for time off, and whether or not they were seeking other jobs. Excluded from the employed group are persons whose only activity consisted of work around the house (such as own home housework, and painting or repairing own home) or volunteer work for religious, charitable, and similar organizations.

Unemployed. Unemployed persons are those civilians who, during the survey week, had no employment but were available for work and (1) had engaged in any specific job seeking activity within the past 4 weeks, such as registering at a public or private employment office, meeting with prospective employers, checking with friends or relatives, placing or answering advertisements, writing letters of application, or being on a union or professional register; (2) were waiting to be called back to a job from which they had been laid off; or (3) were waiting to report to a new wage or salary job within 30 days.

Labor force. Persons are classified as in the labor force if they were employed as civilians, unemployed, or in the Armed Forces during the survey week. The "civilian labor force" comprises all civilians classified as employed or unemployed.

Not in the labor force. All civilians 16 years old and over who are not classified as employed or unemployed are defined as "not in the labor force." This group who are neither employed nor seeking work includes persons engaged only in own home housework, who were attending school or were unable to work because of longterm physical or mental illness; persons who are retired or too old to work, seasonal workers for whom the survey week fell in an off season, and the voluntarily idle. Persons doing only unpaid family work (less than 15 hours during the specified week) are also classified as not in the labor force.

Occupation. The data on occupation in tables 13 and 14 refer to the civilian job held longest during the income year. The data on occupation and employed persons in table 2 refer to the civilian job held during the survey week. Persons employed at two or more jobs were reported in the job at which they worked the greatest number of hours during the week.

In 1980, the Bureau of the Census revised the Standard Occupational Classification System (SOC) for use in its tabulation program for the 1980 census and subsequent published reports on occupational data. Consequently, the new classification system was incorporated into the CPS tabulation program in January 1983. While the new system provides comparability between the CPS and other data sources, it causes a break in continuity for all CPS series containing occupational data.

Differences between the 1970 and 1980 occupational systems affect classifications at all levels. Such commonly used identifiers as white-collar, blue-collar, professional and technical, craft workers, and operative occupations have been eliminated. These identifiers have been replaced with new categories which represent conceptual as well as language changes. Moreover, many of the components of the former groupings have been shifted to such an extent that they cannot be made to correspond readily to the new categories. For a more complete explanation and description of the changes from the old to new occupational classification system see the February 1983 issue of "Employment and Earnings" by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The occupation classification system developed for the 1980 census consists of 503 specific occupation categories arranged into six summary and 13 major occupation groups. The major occupation groups are combined in this report into 6 summary groups as follows:

Managerial and professional specialty occupations Technical, sales, and administrative support occupations

Service occupations

Farming, forestry, and fishing occupations

Precision production, craft, and repair occupations
Operators, fabricators, and laborers

Class of worker. The class-of-worker breakdown specifies wage and salary workers subdivided into private and government workers; self-employed workers; and unpaid family workers. Wage and salary workers receive wages, salary, commission, tips, or pay in kind from a private employer or from a governmental unit. Selfemployed persons are those who work for profit or fees in their own business, profession, or trade, or operate a farm. Unpaid family workers are persons working without pay for 15 hours a week or more on a farm or in a business operated by a member of the household to whom they are related by birth or marriage.

Work experience. A person with work experience is one who, during the preceding calendar year, did any civilian work for pay or profit or worked without pay on a family-operated farm or business at any time during the year, on a part-time or full-time basis.

Weeks worked in the income year. Persons are classified according to the number of different weeks, during the preceding calendar year, in which they did any civilian work for pay or profit (including paid vacations and sick leave) or worked without pay on a familyoperated farm or business.

Year-round, full-time worker. A year-round, full-time worker is one who usually worked 35 hours or more per week for 50 weeks or more during the preceding calendar year.

Nonworker. A nonworker is one who did not do any civilian work in the calendar year preceding the survey.

Income. For each person 15 years old and over in the sample, questions were asked on the amount of money income received in the preceding calendar year from each of the following sources: (1) money wages or salary; (2) net income from nonfarm self-employment; (3) net income from farm self-employment; (4) Social Security or railroad retirement; (5) Supplemental Security income; (6) public assistance or welfare payments; (7) interest (on savings or other investments which pay interest); (8) dividends, income from estates or trusts, or net rental income; (9) veterans' payments or unemployment and workmen's compensation; (10) private pensions or government employee pensions; (11) alimony or child support, regular contributions from persons not living in the household, and other periodic income.

It should be noted that although the income statistics refer to receipts during the preceding year the demographic characteristics of the person, such as age, labor force status, etc., and the composition of families refer to the time of the survey. The income of the family does not include amounts received by persons who were members of the family during all or part of the income year if these persons no longer resided with the family at the time of the enumeration. However, family income includes amounts reported by related persons who did not reside with the family during the income year but who were members of the family at the time of enumeration.

Data on consumer income collected in the CPS by the Bureau of the Census cover money income received (exclusive of certain money receipts such as capital gains) before payments for personal income taxes, Social Security, union dues, Medicare deductions, etc. Therefore, money income does not reflect the fact that some families receive part of their income in the form of noncash benefits such as food stamps, health benefits, subsidized housing, and energy assistance; that some farm families receive noncash benefits in the form of rent-free housing and goods produced and consumed on the farm; or that noncash benefits are also received by some nonfarm residents which often take the form of the use of business transportation and facilities, full or partial payments by business for retirement programs, medical and educational expenses, etc. These elements should be considered when comparing income levels. Moreover, readers should be aware that for many different reasons there is a tendency in household surveys for respondents to underreport their income. From an analysis of independently derived income estimates, it has been determined that wages and salaries tend to be much better reported than such income types as public assistance, Social Security, and net income from interest, dividends, rents, etc.