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Help for Select Units

Overview

The DQS can display data in five formats:

  • Total: In thousands of dollars (default).
  • Per Capita: Divided by mid-year population, in dollars
  • Fraction of Personal Income: Divided by personal income
  • Fraction of General Revenues: Divided by general revenues
  • Fraction of Total Expenditures: Divided by total expenditures

Notes for Use

Select option to view data. Selecting Fraction of General Revenue and Fraction of Total Expenditure may yield decimals greater than 1, depending on the variable selected.

You may also download an Excel spreadsheet containing the CPI, Population and Personal Income numbers used in these calculations.

Data Availability

Data are available for 1977-2004.

Technical Notes

The reporting period for the Finance variables (starting with R, E, or D) is each government's fiscal year. From Chapter 3.35: Reporting Periods :

"Finance data:Through the fiscal year 1963 finance survey, the Bureau collected data for governments' fiscal years that ended in a particular calendar year. Effective with the fiscal 1963-64 survey, the Bureau began using governments' fiscal years that closed within the 12-month period ending on June 30. Thus, the reporting period for fiscal year 1996-97 data includes government's fiscal years that ended between July 1, 1996 and June 30, 1997. There are a few exceptions to this rule, primarily for the Federal and state governments and the District of Columbia.

Dependent agencies of a government do not always share the same fiscal year period as their parent government. In those case, data are for the agency's fiscal year that ended within the 12-month period ending on June 30, which may be earlier or later than the parent government's own fiscal year."

Population data are mid-calendar year estimates for the year of the data. Example: Selecting the "Per Capita" option for Alabama in 2004 would divide variables by 4,525,375. This is the July 2004 estimate from the Bureau of Census.

Personal Income data are for the same calendar year as the year of the data. Example: Selecting the "Fraction of Personal Income" option for Alabama in 2004 would divide variables by 125,329,964. This is the personal income amount for Alabama in calendar year 2004. Personal Income data is from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

For both Population and Personal Income, the same value is used for each state and year, regardless of the level selected. In other words, 4,525,375 is used to calculate per capita variables for Alabama in 2004 whether the level selected is state, state and local, or any of the local levels.

Sources

  1. Government Finance and Employment Classification Manual, http://www.census.gov/govs/www/class.html .
  2. U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances and Census of Governments (1977-2004).
  3. U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. State and Local Personal Income Annual Estimates. http://www.bea.gov/bea/regional/statelocal.htm.