State Demographic Centers: Their Current Status

Population data, particularly those related to national census and survey information, serve the program and planning needs of a broad range of both public and private activities.In recent years, demand for such demographic information has increased particularly rapidly at the state and local levels of government.In response, many states have established identifiable governmental units responsible for providing a range of census-related services and data to both public and private agencies.These units also maintain gubernatorially approved liaison activities with the U.S. Bureau of the Census.Such state government demographic centers vary considerably among states with respect to organizational location, resources, and program scope, according to the results of a recent survey of state governments in the South.This article presents the results of this survey, which is the first systematic description of these state centers; the article discusses the role of state demographic centers in the context of a larger national system of census data use.