US Population Data - 1969-2009
Release Date: January 21, 2011
The county population estimates currently used in the SEER*Stat software to calculate cancer incidence and mortality rates are available for download (see Download US Population Data). They represent a modification of the Vintage 2009 annual time series of July 1 county population estimates by age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin produced by the US Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program
, in collaboration with the National Center for Health Statistics, and with support from the NCI through an interagency agreement. The modifications made by the NCI to the Census Bureau estimates are documented in Population Estimates Used in NCI’s SEER*Stat Software and are summarized below.
- The population estimates incorporate new Vintage 2009 bridged single-race estimates for July 1, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 that are derived from the original multiple race categories in the 2000 Census (as specified in the 1997 Office of Management and Budget standards for the collection of data on race and ethnicity). The bridged single-race estimates and a description of the methodology used to develop them appear on the National Center for Health Statistics Web site.
- The Census Bureau revised their population estimation methodology with the new vintage, see Vintage 2009 for details, impacting population estimates for the year 2000 and forward. The net impact is a general downward shift of the of the latest post-censal population estimates when compared to Vintage 2008, although this varies by state. This general downward shift in the populations causes a general upward shift in disease rate calculations based on these new populations.
- Vintage 2009 will be the final set of population estimates extrapolated from the 2000 Census. As we get further from the 2000 Census, the estimates are more prone to error. In December 2010, the Census Bureau released state-level population totals from the 2010 Census. These population totals for 2010 can be compared to the population estimates for each year from 2001 to 2009. This provides an indication of how much error there might be in the estimates. See End of Decade Issues for graphs of these data for each state.
- A modification that NCI has made to the Census Bureau estimates only affects population estimates for the state of Hawaii. Based on concerns that the native Hawaiian population has been vastly undercounted in previous censuses, the Epidemiology Program of the Hawaii Cancer Research Center has recommended an adjustment to the populations for their state. The "Hawaii-adjustment" to the Census Bureau’s estimates has the net result of reducing the estimated white population and increasing the estimated Asian and Pacific Islander population for the state. The estimates for the total population, black population, and American Indian and Alaska Native populations in Hawaii are not modified.
- Two sets of population estimates are available for 2005: the standard set based on July 1 populations and another set adjusted for population shifts due to hurricanes Katrina (August 29) and Rita (September 24). These estimates are lower than the values for counties/parishes that had direct hurricane impact and higher for counties/parishes that were destinations for those displaced. See Adjusted Populations for the Counties/Parishes Affected by Hurricane Katrina and Rita for more information.
Single year of age population estimates by county are available (read Download US Population Data). The methods used to create these estimates are described in Single Year of Age County Population Estimates.
Standard Population Data Files containing age distributions used as weights to create age-adjusted statistics are also available.
