New census data released on poverty, income, traffic

The Census Bureau released selected 2008 American Community Survey data on Sept. 29, which includes information on poverty status, family income and food stamp receipts.

In addition, the bureau released new data on selected population profiles for Hawaii such as the characteristics for "races alone" groups as well as "races alone and in combination" groups such as Whites; Asians; Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders; Japanese; Filipinos; and Native Hawaiians. Selected ancestry and place of birth are now available, too.

One surprising finding in the new data: Hawaii ranks No. 1 for the percentage of workers who carpool to work. Hawaii was tops with 16.2 percent of workers 16 and older who travel to work by car, truck or van in a carpool. That leaves nearly 66 percent of workers traveling by car, truck or van alone in 2008, ranking Hawaii 49th among the states and the District of Columbia.

Hawaii was No. 7 in the U.S. for workers over 16 who travel to work by public transportation. Nearly 6 percent of workers take a form of public transportation to work, excluding taxicabs, the survey said, while only 1.2 percent of Hawaii workers worked outside the county they live in -- a fairly obvious statistic in an island state. Hawaii had the 10th highest average commute time to work, at 26 minutes. New York was ranked No. 1 at 31 minutes.

Click here to access the information on the Census Bureau Internet site through the American Factfinder. Hawaii data will be uploaded soon to the DBEDT Internet site.