The data for the County Information Project's "Population in Group Quarters by County" comes from the U.S. Census Bureau's Census 2000 Summary File 1 - Texas (SF 1). SF1 contains the 100-percent data, which is the information compiled from the questions asked of all people and about every housing unit in the 2000 Census (released August 2001). For more information concerning this data, contact Tim Brown, Senior County Analyst, or see the Census Bureau's 606 page Summary File 1 : 2000 Census of Population and Housing: Technical Documentation. This document is in PDF format, so you will need either Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader (free) to view the document.

"Group Quarters." All people not living in housing units are classified by the Census Bureau as living in group quarters. The Bureau recognizes two general categories of people in group quarters:(1) institutionalized population and (2) noninstitutionalized population.

Institutionalized population. Includes people under formally authorized, supervised care or custody in institutions at the time of enumeration. Such people are classified as "patients" or "inmates" of an institution regardless of the availability of nursing or medical care, the length of stay, or the number of people in the institution. Generally, the institutionalized population is restricted to the institutional buildings and grounds (or must have passes or escorts to leave) and thus have limited interaction with the surrounding community. Also, they are generally under the care of trained staff who have responsibility for their safekeeping and supervision.

Types of institutions include:

• Correctional facilities (see below)
• Nursing homes
• Mental (psychiatric) hospitals
• Hospitals or wards forchronically ill
• Schools, hospitals, or wards for the mentally retarded
• Schools, hospitals, or wards for the physically handicapped
• Hospitals and wards for drug/alcohol abuse
• Wards in general hospitals for patients who have no usual home elsewhere
• Wards in military hospitals for patients who have no usual home elsewhere
• Juvenile institutions

Noninstitutionalized population. Includes people who live in group quarters other than institutions. Includes staff residing in military and nonmilitary group quarters on institutional grounds who provide formally authorized, supervised care or custody for the institutionalized population.

Types of noninstitutional group quarters include:

• Group homes
• Religious group quarters
• College quarters off campus
• College dormitories
• Military quarters
• Agriculture workers' dormitories
• Other workers' dormitories
• Dormitories for nurses and interns in general and military hospitals
• Dormitories for nurses and interns in general and military hospitals
• Emergency and transitional shelters (with sleeping facilities)
• Shelters for children who are runaways,neglected,or without conventional housing
• Shelters for abused women (shelters against domestic violence or family crisis centers)
• Soup kitchens
• Regularly scheduled mobile food vans
• Targeted nonsheltered outdoor locations
• Crews of maritime vessels
• Residential facilities providing "protective oversight"
• Staff residents of institutions
• Other nonhousehold living situations
• Living quarters for victims of natural disasters.

"Correctional Facility." Individuals housed in prisons, federal detention centers, military disciplinary barracks and jails, police lockups, halfway houses used for correctional purposes, local jails, and other confinement facilities, including work farms at the time of enumeration.