The data on bedrooms were obtained from questionnaire item H9, which was asked at both occupied and vacant housing units. This item was asked on a sample basis. The number of bedrooms is the count of rooms designed to be used as bedrooms; that is, the number of rooms that would be listed as bedrooms if the house or apartment were on the market for sale or for rent. Included are all rooms intended to be used as bedrooms even if they currently are being used for some other purpose. A housing unit consisting of only one room, such as a one-room efficiency apartment, is classified, by definition, as having no bedroom.
Data on bedrooms have been collected in every census since 1960. In 1970 and 1980, data for bedrooms were shown only for year-round units. In past censuses, a room was defined as a bedroom if it was used mainly for sleeping even if also used for other purposes. Rooms that were designed to be used as bedrooms but used mainly for other purposes were not considered to be bedrooms. A distribution of housing units by number of bedrooms calculated from data collected in a 1986 test showed virtually no differences in the two versions except in the two bedroom category, where the previous "use" definition showed a slightly lower proportion of units.
