What are confidence intervals? What do they mean?
A confidence interval is a range of values that, with some level of certainty, contains the true value the estimate is approximating. For example, each state and county estimate is listed with a 90-percent confidence interval. This means that for a particular estimate, if we carried out our estimation procedure and created a confidence interval 100 times, the actual value that the estimate is approximating is in that interval approximately 90 out of the 100 times. For more details about confidence intervals, please check a basic explanation of confidence intervals. For information on confidence intervals of the difference between two estimates, please check the general cautions page. Return to top. • Why are there no county-level SAIPE program estimates for income year 1996? Prior to release of income year 1998 data, county data were produced every two years, for odd-numbered years. The Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994 required estimates of poverty for school districts every two
