There are more black residents of the United States and they are better educated than five years ago, according to new Census Bureau figures.
The bureau is compiling mid-decade updates on its data, using information collected in the Current Population Survey. The data are designed for use by government agencies, marketers and organizations studying various groups.The reports include only numerical tables, not analysis.
The new set of information covering blacks was published Tuesday. Data on Hispanics and Asian and Pacific Islanders are expected later.
The report shows 33.5 million blacks in the United States as of 1995, up from 30.3 million in 1990.
Nearly three quarters of blacks age 25 and over have completed high school, 73.8 percent. The 1990 Census had found 63.1 percent of blacks in that age group with high school diplomas.
And the share with bachelor's degrees climbed from 11.3 percent in 1990 to 13 percent in 1995.
The survey calculated that the median income of black men working year-around, full-time, was $25,350 in 1994, 72 percent of the equivalent figure for non-Hispanic white men.
Comparable figures for 1990, in constant dollars, showed black men earning a median income of $25,360.
For black women, the 1994 median full-time income was $20,610, 85 percent of what non-Hispanic white women earned. In 1990, it was $21,570.
While the median income figures indicate a decline in earnings over the period, officials said the difference may be too small to be statistically significant.