Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) for 
Economic Research on Employment Policy for Persons with Disabilities

JUST RELEASED -- Census 2000 Data: Local Disability Statistics

The Census Bureau recently released statistics regarding the incidence of disability and the employment of people with disabilities.  These statistics are based on a broad conceptualization of disability and are available for states, counties, reservations, cities, towns and even smaller locations.  (In the near future, the Census Bureau will release statistics based on disability and demographic subpopulations).  Follow the steps below to obtain the number of persons with and without disabilities who live in your area and the number of these people who are employed.

1) Go to http://censtats.census.gov/pub/Profiles.shtml

2) Select a state and type in the location and click on “Go.” For example, select New York and type in “Ithaca.”

3) The next web page will provide a list of “Selected Areas.”  For the example above, the follow options are given:

      East Ithaca CDP, New York
      Ithaca city, New York
      Ithaca town, Tompkins County, New York
      Northeast Ithaca CDP, New York
      Northwest Ithaca CDP, New York

Click on the specific location you want, and a PDF file containing the location’s profile will be opened or you may be asked to save this PDF file to your computer.   (To view the profiles in PDF format, you must have Acrobat Adobe 4.0 or higher installed. To download a free version of Acrobat to your computer, go to www.adobe.com.)

4) In the all profiles, disability statistics are included as part of “Table DP-2.Profile of Selected Social Characteristics: 2000.”  These disability statistics are

- For Persons Aged 5 to 20 years
	number of civilian non-institutionalized
	number of civilian non-institutionalized persons with a disability
	percentage of civilian non-institutionalized persons with a disability

- For Persons Aged 21 to 64 years
	number of civilian non-institutionalized persons with a disability
	percentage of civilian non-institutionalized persons with a disability
	percentage of civilian non-institutionalized persons with a disability who are employed
	number of civilian non-institutionalized persons with no disability
	percentage of civilian non-institutionalized persons with no disability
	percentage of civilian non-institutionalized persons with no disability who are employed.

- For Persons Aged 65 years and over
	number of civilian non-institutionalized
	number of civilian non-institutionalized persons with a disability
	percentage of civilian non-institutionalized persons with a disability

5) Interpreting the statistics: for the example above, clicking on “Ithaca town, Tompkins County, New York,” the statistics can be read as follows.

- The overall civilian non-institutionalized population aged 5 to 20 years is 5,826 persons, of which 320 (or 5.5 percent) are persons with a disability.

- The overall civilian non-institutionalized population aged 21 to 64 years is 9,550 persons, of which 788 (or 8.3 percent) are persons with a disability.

- Of the 788 persons with a disability, 58.8 are employed. 

- In comparison, of the 8,762 persons with no disability, 70.7.2 percent of are employed

- The overall civilian non-institutionalized population aged 65 years and over is 2,186 persons, of which 566 (or 25.9 percent) are persons with a disability.

Definitions of disability and employment are discussed in “About Profile” section of the profile.  For more information in the Census 2000 data and statistics go to http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2002/demoprofiles.html

For more information on the Cornell RRTC disability statistics available see http://www.disabilitystatistics.org/, or contact Andrew Houtenville, Ph.D. at ajh29@cornell.edu.

For information on the Americans with Disabilities Act and Information Technology Centers nationally go to www.adata.org or call (phone and TTY) call 1-800-949-4232.