2020 Census Data for Your Neighborhood

What data can I get with this tool?

For now, the tool is limited to the 2020 Decennial Census "redistricting" data release. You can choose from five tables that support comparing 2020 to 2010, plus one file which is new, so only has 2020 data.

P1

Race

P2

Hispanic or Latino, and not Hispanic or Latino by Race

P3

Race for the Population 18 Years and Over

P4

Hispanic or Latino, and not Hispanic or Latino by Race for the Population 18 Years and Over

P5

Group Quarters Population by Major Group Quarters Type (2020 only)

H1

Occupancy Status

We've wanted to provide a tool like this for a long time, and we're excited to have this chance to try it. For various reasons, extending it to the full 2020 Decennial Census release or the American Community Survey are still complicated. Because of this, we are not actively planning to extend this tool to include other Census data sources, but we will consider it, and we welcome your feedback.

Where can I find maps?

It's becoming more and more common for local governments to publish maps in the format needed for this tool on open data portals. Try a search for your city or town plus "GIS" or "shapefile." If you find them, send us that link using the "Submit a Request" button above, and we'll verify that data is suitable, and if it is, process it and notify you.

Note that the total area of your map must be less than 2500 km². This is enough for almost every city in the US.

Can I draw my own map?

Yes! We did not create a map drawing tool, but you can use the amazing GeoJSON.io to draw your own. When you're done, just use the "Save" menu to save it as "GeoJSON", and then attach it to your request. If you draw more than one shape, we strongly recommend using the "properties" popup available for each shape you draw to add a name and/or other identifier so you can distinguish the data after you download it.

In which formats can I get data?

To keep things simple, for each of the tables above you can download a single ZIP file. The file will contain a CSV file with one row for each geography in the source map, and a GeoJSON file which has the same data already linked to each geography. For the tables which offer 2010 comparison data, there will be three data points for each table column: the 2020 data, the 2010 data, and the percent change between 2020 and 2010 for that table column. The ZIP file also includes a metadata.json file which translates the coded column identifiers, like P0010009_2020 into an understandable label, like P1-9: Population of two or more races (2020).

Who can see my map?

If you request data for a map which can be downloaded from a public website, we will include it in a list of available datasets, which will hopefully be useful to other people interested in the same place. If you provide us with a custom map, or one which otherwise doesn't have a clear provenance, we won't include it in the list, although it could still be seen by anyone with the correct URL.

How do you actually compute the numbers?

The Census Bureau's Geography division computes an internal point for every Census block (and other geography). The internal point is the mathematical center of the geography, but adjusted to ensure that it is inside the shape. (This is related to the concept of a geographic "centroid", but for some shapes, centroids fall outside of the boundaries.) When we process a map, we link every block with an internal point that falls within one of your geographies to that geography. (Of course, it's possible that some blocks don't fall completely within a single one of your geographies, but because blocks tend to be small in both size and population, we decided that this was an acceptable simplification.) When you request a data file, we just add up the numbers for each block in each geography.

This is a fairly standard method, although approaches can vary slightly. When we compared our numbers for Chicago Community Areas to another report, most of the numbers matched exactly. In a few cases, our numbers differed slightly. Treat this as a reminder that these numbers are inexact. Also, remember that in 2020, the Census Bureau implemented a "disclosure avoidance" method which may introduce another kind of imprecision to this process.

What about my other question you haven't answered here?

You can ask us questions using our UserVoice system.