RIP Statistical Abstract

You probably heard that the Statistical Abstract was threatened by budget cuts. Now those threats have become reality. An announcement has appeared (in bold, red typeface) on the Statistical Abstract's web page reporting its demise--the termination of data collection for the Statistical Compendia Program, which includes the Statistical Abstract (published since 1878), the State and Metropolitan Area Data Book, and the County and City Data Book. The announcement reads, in part...

"The U.S. Census Bureau is terminating the collection of data for the Statistical Compendia program effective October 1, 2011...The decision to propose the elimination of this program was not made lightly." 

For those who want access to the most current data presented in the Statistical Abstract's more than 1,400 tables, the Census Bureau refers users to the organizations cited in the source notes for each table.