US Census Data

A valuable public resource for demographic, socio-economic, and business / marketing data

Demography Courses

2020 Census Timeline

The 2020 Census will be published in phases. It is a 100% count of the basic demographic characteristics of the population down to the block level.

  • March 2021: basic population count for states
  • Summer 2021: Public Redistricting File (PL-94-171) , six tables with basic population counts down to the block level
  • Late 2021 - Early 2022: Summary File 1 (SF1), the primary decennial census dataset with detailed demographic characteristics
  • Mid to Late 2022: Summary File 2 (SF2), additional cross tabulations for all race categories
  • Late 2022: first tabulations by urban / rural status and new Congressional Districts

The US Census

The US Census Bureau compiles, creates, and publishes a variety of free, public domain datasets that can be used for socio-economic, demographic, and business analyses. This guide will help you to tap into this valuable resource.

Accessing Census Data

An Overview of Basic Census Concepts

About This Guide

This guide was originally created and maintained by Prof. Frank Donnelly, Geospatial Data Librarian, now at Brown University as of Feb. 2021.

US Census Librarian (interim)