An Examination of Coverage Issues Associated with the U.S. Census Bureau's National Address List

• Activity Number: 142
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Monday, August 5, 2013 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Government Statistics Section
• Author(s): Nancy Johnson*+ and Kathleen Kephart
• Companies: US Census Bureau and US Census Bureau
• Keywords: 2010 Census ; Coverage Error ; Listing Error

Abstract

The US Census Bureau's Master Address File (MAF) is a national address list that is used for numerous surveys, as well as the decennial census. In order to create an address frame for sampling or an address list for the decennial census, an extract of the MAF is generated using criteria to determine address validity. One year before the 2010 Census, the US Census Bureau conducted one of the largest dependent address listing operations in the world, using an extract of the MAF. As the first major field operation of the 2010 Census, it was important to provide an accurate address inventory for the census enumeration operations. An accurate inventory reduces census costs and lessens the risk of either omissions from the census or an over-count. We will present results regarding added-in-error and deleted-in-error cases for census operations, as well as the initial canvassing. In addition to presenting the results of 2010 Census operations, we explore the characteristics and demographics of areas in the US with poor address coverage. Poor coverage is defined by areas that required a large number of added or deleted addresses from the existing inventory.