US Census Firm Concentration Data, 1972-2012

Since the passing of the 1953 Title 13 U.S. Code, Congress gave the Census Bureau authority to conduct an economic census every 5 years on years that end in a 2 or 7. This code mandated that all economic firms must provide requested information, and it required the Bureau to maintain the confidentiality of the individual records. Respondents are asked to provide a range of operational and performance data for their companies.

This collection is compiled from publicly available U.S. Census Bureau data and publications. This data comes from a mix of digitized paper documents, CD-ROMs/Floppy discs, now-discontinued FTP servers, and the US Census Bureau website. However, this data is not a complete sample of the US economic census. This collection has variables related to the type of establishment, year, business sector, payroll, number of employees, number of firms, and shipments. Some inquiries apply to some industries but not others, such as materials consumed and franchising.