Appendix C: US Census Bureau: Decennial census data

from Measuring the Regional Importance of Early Care and Education: The Cornell Methodology Guide, by Rosaria Ribeiro and Mildred Warner, Ph.D.

The US Census of Population and Housing is, by far, the most comprehensive national data source on children. All of the Census data used in the economic analyses of child care come from the Summary File 3 (SF 3) Sample Data. The Census data can be downloaded from American Fact Finder on the Census website: http://factfinder.census.gov/. 

Important data sources commonly used in assessing children and parents for an economic analysis of the child care sector include:

• P8. Sex by Age [79] - Universe: Total Population
• P15. Family Type by Presence of Own Children Under 18 Years By Age of Own Children [20] - Universe: Families
• P45. Presence of Own Children under 18 by Age of Own Children by Employment Status for Females 16 years and over [22] - Universe: Females 16 years and over
• P46. Age of Own Children Under 18 Years in Families and Sub-families by Living Arrangements by Employment Status of Parents [27] - Universe: Own Children Under 18 Years in Families and Subfamilies
• P77. Median Family Income 1999 (dollars) [1] - Universe: Families

ESTIMATING POTENTIAL DEMAND FOR CHILD CARE

Some Study teams have attempted to estimate the number of children that may need care while parents work by using Census data on the number of own children under age 18, by living arrangement and by employment status of parents (Census 2000, SF-3, Table P46).² The total number of children in need of care equals the number of children living with two parents (both parents in labor force) plus the number of children living with one parent (parent in labor force). Table C1 shows the estimate of children under 6 years of age in New York State that may need child care while parents work.

ESTIMATING NUMBER OF WORKING PARENTS PER CHILD BASED ON US CENSUS DATA

Because US Census data on children under 13 years of age by family and parent employment status is unavailable, the New York State study team used data on “own children” under 6 years of age living with families and subfamilies by parent employment status of parents (Census 2000, SF-3, Table P46) and data on the number of families with “own children”, children under 6 year of age (Census 2000, SF-3, Table P15) to estimate the number of working parents per child (see Table C1).

Estimating the number of working parents per child in NYS requires essentially four steps, as shown in Table C2.

The 2000 Census shows that there are 764,721 children under age 6 in New York living with working parents (Table C1). According to the Census, there are 888,465 working parents associated with each child under age 6 (see Table C2). However, not all parents have children in paid child care. In New York, only 745,435 parents claim the state Dependent and Child Care Tax Credit (DCTC).

¹The US Census breaks families with children under 18 years of age into three categories: families with children under 6 years of age only, families with children under 6 years of age and children 6-17 years of age, and families with children between ages 6-17 years only. In order to get the total number of families with children under 6 years of age, we added the number of families with children under 6 years of age only (519,519) to the number of families with children under 6 years of age and 6-17 years of age (479,882).
²US Census data for “own children” living with families and subfamilies is slightly smaller than the total number of children because some children live with related families. For New York State, the total number of children under 6 years of age is 1,491,866 and the number of “own children” under 6 years of age in families and sub-families is 1,405,240.