Finding Census Data in the American FactFinder:
A Detailed Guide

The American FactFinder is the gateway to the 1990 and 2000 censuses of population and housing, which provide detailed information on people living in the United States.  But it can be difficult to use.  The following instructions will facilitate your searches in this database.  Words in bold type correspond exactly to text appearing on the screen.  You will be asked to click on, highlight, or otherwise respond to this text.

Census data is gathered through the use of two forms.  While the short form is distributed to all households, the long form is sent to only one in six.  The short form consists mainly of questions about gender, age, race, and ethnicity, and this data is made available in File 1 of the American FactFinder.  Questions in the long form deal with place of birth, language, education, disability, employment, income, poverty, physical housing characteristics, and other social and economic topics.  This data can be retrieved from File 3, which combines demographic and social/economic data in many tables.

Step 1

Hover over Data Sets in the left-hand column and click on Decennial Census.

For 2000 data, select one of the following data sets:

• Census 2000 Summary File 1 (SF1) - 100-Percent Data 

• Census 2000 Summary File 3 (SF3) - Sample Data

To get 1990 data, click on the 1990 Census tab and select one of the following:

• 1990 Summary Tape File 1 (STF1) - 100 Percent Data

• 1990 Summary Tape File 3 (STF3) - Sample Data

Step 2  

Click on Detailed Tables.

Step 3

Click on the pull-down menu for Select a geographic type, and choose the geographic unit you need.  If you need data on a congressional district, for example, scroll down and highlight Congressional District.

Step 4

Click on the next pull-down menu and select the appropriate state or other entity.  If you highlighted Congressional District in Step 3, for example, you will be prompted to Select a state.

Step 5

A pull-down menu reading Select one or more geographic areas and click 'Add' will now appear.  Highlight as many districts, counties, or other entities as you would like.  By clicking on Add, you make them appear in the box below.

Step 6

Highlight the geographic entities that appear in the box headed, Current geography selections, and click on Next.

Step 7

On this new page, Choose a table selection method.  If you choose Subject, click on the pull-down menu to see what subjects  are available, highlight the one that interests you, and click on Search.  If you click on Keyword, enter a word in the box that opens and click on Search.  If, for example, you enter the word 'race', the title of every table containing that word will appear in the box below.

Step 8

Highlight the table that interests you and click on Add and then Show results.

Step 9

Hover over Print / Download and select the format option that meets your needs.  Sometimes tables contain dozens of columns.  In these cases, printing is not a viable option.

Step 10

By clicking on Related Items on the right end of the blue bar, you can sometimes access texts and multi-year tables that are closely related to the table you have retrieved.

Step 11

You can now return to the previous page and search for/select additional tables for your geographic entity.  To access another data set, click on Data Sets with Detailed Tables and make your selection.