News release: “The U.S. Census Bureau today released the latest American Community Survey (ACS) data, providing a statistical portrait of the characteristics of the nation’s population in 2008. / Detailed tables / ACS Media Toolkit / 2008 ACS Questionnaire. According to the new snapshot, one-in-four people in Texas (24.1 percent) lacked health insurance in 2008, the highest rate in the nation. At the other end of the spectrum, fewer than one-in-20 Massachusetts residents (4.1 percent) lacked coverage.”

• “Five states — Arizona, California, Florida, Indiana and Michigan — saw real median household income fall between 2007 and 2008. Just one state had a decline between 2006 and 2007.
• The total foreign-born population represented 12.5 percent of the population in 2008; it was 12.6 percent in 2007.
• The percentage of women 15 and over who have never married was 28.1 percent in 2008, up from 27.6 percent in 2007 and 27.3 percent in 2006.
• California homeowners with mortgages ($2,384) had the median housing costs in the nation. New Jersey had the second highest median housing cost ($2,360). Hawaii ($2,265) and the District of Columbia ($2,218) followed, but were not significantly different from each other. Rounding out the top six were Connecticut ($2,108) and Massachusetts ($2,105), which also were not significantly different from each other.”
• AP: Census: Americans hit hard by downturn – ‘The recession has affected everybody in one way or another’
• Related postings on financial system