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America loves its sweets! Data from the 2012 Economic Census finds that the United States is home to 1,330 chocolate and cocoa products and 439 nonchocolate confectionery establishments. The combined total value of shipments from these industries (NAICS 311340 and 311351) exceeds $12 billion annually.
Halloween would not be as sweet without sugar. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that U.S. cane and beet sugar production will be nearly 8 million metric tons in 2015–16—enough to keep the nation's 97,562 dentists busy!
On October 5, the Public Broadcasting Service celebrates 45 years of
deliverying quality programming like Masterpiece Theater, NOVA, and
Downton Abbey to its viewers in approximately 94 percent of households
in the 50 states, District of Columbia, and four U.S. territories.
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) 
—an American nonprofit broadcaster and television program distributor—celebrates its 45th birthday on October 5. Founded in 1970 by Hartford N. Gunn, and headquartered in Arlington, VA, PBS has more than 350 member television stations in each of the 50 states, District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Funded by viewers and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting , PBS fulfills its mission to "educate, inform, and inspire" through its slate of quality children's, documentary, and arts programming, noncommercial news, as well as comedy and drama offerings that would otherwise be unavailable to U.S. audiences. In the 45 years since its founding, 94 percent of U.S. households have access to a PBS television station. Today, more than 100 million households view PBS television programming each month—including 77 percent of all children aged 2 to 8—making it the nation's fourth most-watched television network.
Data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau and other statistical agencies can help you learn more about PBS and television-related industries in the United States. For example:
U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert M. Groves launched the 2010 Census in Schools program with the assistance of
Sesame Street's Count von Count and Rosita in Wilmington, DE, on January 15, 2010. Sesame Street premiered on
National Educational Television in 1969 and PBS in 1970. In 2015, cable television's HBO announced it would premier
new episodes of the children's program before they aired on PBS.
On October 17, 2006, U.S. Census Bureau director Charles L. Kincannon held a press conference as the agency's population clock showed the U.S. population reaching 300 million.
The nation reached the 200 million milestone in 1967, 100 million in 1915, and 50 million in 1880. As of October 1, 2015, the U.S. population was approximately 321,865,000.
When the Ford Foundation established National Education Television in 1954, 65 percent of American households owned a television. In 1970, 95 percent of households had a television on which they could watch the first PBS broadcasts.
Since 1978, 98 percent of households own at least one television. Data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation shows that along with televisions, most households also own a refrigerator (99.2 percent), gas or electric stove (98.6 percent), and microwave oven (96.8 percent).
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