Census of Governments

Government Organization

• Volume 1, No. 1: Government Organization [PDF, 3.45MB] – Report provides explanations of concepts and data tables showing the number of governments by location and type of government.
• Appendix A includes Individual State Descriptions: descriptions by state about how governments are organized and the number of governments by type.
• Datafiles and documentation are available at Lists & Structure of Governments - Historical Data

Government Employment & Payroll

• Volume 3, No. 1: Employment of Major Local Governments [PDF, 0.98MB] – Report provides explanations of government employment concepts and data tables showing the number of employees, average employee earnings, and payrolls for:

• Counties
• Municipalities and townships with population of 25,000 or more
• School systems that enroll 7,500 or more pupils
• Special districts that have 100 or more full-time employees

• Volume 3, No. 2: Compendium of Public Employment [PDF, 1.15MB] – Report provides explanations of government employment concepts and 13 detailed tables showing the number of employees, average employee earnings, and payrolls by state, county, type of government, size of population, activities performed by the governments (governmental functions), etc.
• Viewable tables, Excel spreadsheets, and datafiles are available at Government Employment & Payroll - Historical Data: 1997 for:

• Federal government
• State governments only
• Local governments only
• State and local governments combined

Government Finance

• Volume 4, No. 1: Public Education Finances [PDF, 1.30MB] – Report explains concepts about the finances of public elementary and secondary schools, and provides data about sources of revenue, types of revenue and expenditure, debts, and assets, by state and for individual school systems with 5,000 students or more.
• Volume 4, No. 2: Finances of Special District Governments [PDF, 1.06MB] – Report explains concepts of government finance and provides finance data about special districts-type and sources of revenue, and types of expenditures, debts, and assets. Data are aggregated by state, and shown for large individual special districts that had $10 million or more in revenue or expenditure, or $25 million or more in debt.
• Volume 4, No. 3: Finances of County Governments [PDF, 1.50MB] – Report explains concepts of government finance, and provides finance data about county governments–type and sources of revenue, and types of expenditures, debts, and assets. Data are aggregated by state, by population of county, and shown for individual counties.
• Volume 4, No. 4: Finances of Municipal and Township Governments [PDF, 1.63MB] – Report explains concepts of government finance, and provides finance data about municipal (city) and township governments–type and sources of revenue, and types of expenditures, debts, and assets. Data are aggregated by state, by population of municipality or township, and shown for individual municipalities with 25,000 people or more, and individual townships in the Northeastern United States that have 25,000 people or more.
• Volume 4, No. 5: Compendium of Government Finances [PDF, 4.58MB] – Report explains concepts of government finance, and provides finance data about state and local governments–type and sources of revenue, and types of expenditures, debts, and assets–and shows the sum totals of all governments within a state or county, as well as state totals for each type of government.
• Volume 4, No. 6: Employee Retirement Systems of State and Local Governments [PDF, 559KB] – Report explains concepts of employee-retirement systems, and provides finance data for state-administered and local government-administered retirement programs for government employees. Finance data focus on assets–cash and security holdings by type–and payments made (benefits, withdrawals, and administration) by state and for individual systems with holdings of $20 million or more.
• Viewable tables, Excel spreadsheets, and datafiles are available for:

• State governments only: State Government Finance - Historical Data: 1997
• State and local governments combined and local governments only: State & Local Government Finance - Historical Data: 1997
• School finance (Public Elementary-Secondary Education finance data): Public School Finance Data - Historical Data: 1997
• Employee-retirement systems of state and local governments: Public Employee-Retirement Systems - Historical Data: 1997