U.S. Census & Demographics: 1970

The lowest level of geography for summary data from 1970 is either block groups (in areas were tracts were defined) or elsewhere enumeration districts (ED). This overview outlines how key products were originally published and highlights only a few of the custom products that were subsequently produced based on the original.

Note that some sample questions were asked of either a 15% or a 5% sample of households, but some were asked for both, thus constituting a 20% sample. Variation can occur among totals based responses from 20%, 15% or 5% samples.

• Summary Files
  The table below outlines the most commonly used summary files from the 1970. Not all these files are readily available. For some that are all states may not be reported.

• Other Summary File Products
  Special subsets based on either geography or topic have been created from the Summary Files. When needs can be met with these files, they are easier to use than the original files. Also there are the Elizabeth Bogue Census Tract Files for which data was keyed in from the printed tract reports for selected metropolitan areas.
• Public Use Microdata
  Public Use Microdata were produced and reported for county groups, states, and geographic divisions with neighborhood characteristics each with a population of at least 250,000. Originally the files were hierarchical (contain both household and person records). A modified version is also available that combines household and person data on record so that the file is rectangular.
• Maps
  Columbia's holdings for 1970 maps are described on the Government Documents 1970 Decennial Census Information web page.