U.S. Census Bureau — State Population Estimates (2024 vintage)

How this source shows up on Fonteum.

Per-capita denominators in research studies (e.g. 'X dermatologists per 100,000 residents'). Tier-1 — appears in study tables and methodology, never on individual provider profiles.

Research and data questions this source supports.

• 01Compute per-100,000-population provider density by state using Census PEP V2025 denominators and NPPES provider counts as numerators.
• 02Power a health equity study that expresses HPSA shortage designations as provider shortfall per 100k residents by state.
• 03Normalize nursing home deficiency counts (from CMS NH Deficiencies data) to per-100k-population rates for cross-state comparison.
• 04Support a healthcare market size calculation that combines Census state population with BEA personal income data.
• 05Build a congressional-district-level provider access map using Census population estimates as the denominator.

Dataset size: Annual estimates for 51 states + DC + ~3,100 counties

What we can’t infer from this source.

• Population vintage matters; 2024 estimates are mid-year point-in-time projections from the 2020 decennial.
• Sub-state geographies (county / city) require Census Bureau Population Estimates Program separately.
• Tier-1 — never rendered on individual provider profiles.

Authority, license, publisher cadence.

What the source allows.

U.S. government public-domain works. Census publishes population estimates as bulk CSV. Redistribution permitted with attribution; please cite the vintage year. Fonteum uses state-level estimates as denominators in per-capita research.

What a single field looks like in the graph.

This worked example shows the provenance shape used when a surfaced field has populated source, last-checked, display-rule, and confidence metadata. Individual fields may omit unavailable values.

Official API, bulk download, and Fonteum endpoints.

Common questions about US Census.

What is the Census Population Estimates Program (PEP) and which vintage does Fonteum use?

The Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) produces annual resident population estimates for the nation, states, counties, and cities. PEP V2025 is the 2025 vintage — estimates anchored to the 2020 decennial census and extended forward with administrative data on births, deaths, and migration. Fonteum uses PEP V2025 to provide per-100k-population denominators for healthcare access studies.

Where can I download Census state population estimates?

The Census Bureau publishes state population estimates at census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/data/data-sets.html. Vintage-year estimates are released each December for the prior year. All Census data is U.S. government public-domain — free to use with attribution.

Why does Fonteum use population estimates rather than decennial census counts?

Decennial census counts are only available every 10 years and become stale quickly for rapidly growing or shrinking states. Population estimates are updated annually and are more accurate for current-year rate calculations. Fonteum uses the most recent PEP vintage (V2025) anchored to the 2020 census as the standard denominator.

What is the difference between Census PEP and the American Community Survey (ACS)?

PEP provides annual total resident population counts by state — the number of people living there, suitable for per-capita denominators. ACS provides demographic, income, and housing survey data collected continuously and published in 1-year and 5-year estimates. PEP denominators are better for provider density calculations; ACS is better for demographic context and income distribution.

Does Fonteum use county-level or state-level population estimates?

Fonteum's research studies currently use state-level PEP V2025 estimates as the primary denominator. County-level denominators are used for HRSA HPSA and access-gap studies where geography is a key variable. County population estimates are available from the same PEP release on the Census Bureau's data API.

Where this source already shows up.

Related sources in the graph

• /sources/hrsa-hpsa →
• /sources/bls-oews →
• /sources/bea-regional →

• /sources → The generated source-catalog subset — documented datasets Fonteum cites.
• /data-provenance → The provider graph — pipeline diagram, source-family clusters, field-level provenance examples, display rules.
• /methodology → Documented sourcing, publisher cadence, observed freshness, and corrections policy.
• /editorial-policy → Independence, sourcing, conflicts, corrections, retractions.