5 takeaways:

➀ The Census Bureau has one job: to measure America’s people and economy. “Our mission during the decennial census (which occurs during every year ending with a 0) is going to be to count every person living in the US once, only once and in the right place,” said Jewel Jordan, Public Affairs Specialist with the U.S Census Bureau. It’s not just a body count, Jordan said. “It helps to make sure that we disseminate over $600 billion annually, in between decennial census years.” Researchers also produce annual demographic statistics through the American Community Survey, the Current Population Survey, with population estimates and over a hundred plus other surveys and programs. There’s also the Economic Census that happens every five years.

➁ With “America Counts,” Census.gov uses data for storytelling. The new “America Counts, Stories Behind the Numbers” portal, researchers use interesting data to craft stories that tell more than what a data release or blog might reveal. “The ‘Stories Behind the Numbers’ are going to give you some more interesting insight, it might even help you with a story angle to find something out that you might want to use in the future,” Jordan said.

➂ New questions and measures yield deeper insights. The 2020 Census questionnaire introduced new coding and processing to allow citizens to more thoroughly and accurately identify themselves, said Rachel Marks, chief of the Racial Statistics Branch. “First, in response to community feedback over the past decade, we added dedicated write-in response areas and examples for the ‘White’ racial category and the ‘Black or African American’ racial category. Second, we provided six example groups for each of the White, Black or African American, and American Indian or Alaska Native racial categories. These examples represent the largest population groups within each of the race categories, geographically based definitions as defined by the Office of Management and Budget standards.”

➃ The US population is much more racially and ethnically diverse than we’ve understood. Nicholas Jones, Director and Senior Advisor of Race and Ethnic Research encouraged journalists to use the Bureau’s interactive data visualization tools to explore the maps and graphics that detail 2020 Census results and also connect to data from the 2010 Census. These race and ethnicity composition tools and data diversity tools can provide much deeper insights into racial and ethnic prevalence for every state and all counties within the country, Jones said.

➄ Geography profiles are a great place to start.  Tyson Weister, program analyst with the Center for Enterprise Dissemination, says these profiles offer the best way for journalists to “slice and dice” statistics that amplify their stories. They can be found at data.census.gov, Weister recommends using the Google Chrome browser to access them.

Speakers: 

Jewel Jordan, Public Affairs Specialist, U.S. Census Bureau

Leslie Rene Malone, Public Affairs Specialist, U.S. Census Bureau

Rachel Marks, Chief, Racial Statistics Branch, U.S. Census Bureau

Nicholas A. Jones, Director and Senior Advisor of Race and Ethnic Research, U.S. Census Bureau

Tyson Weister, Program Analyst, Center for Enterprise Dissemination, U.S. Census Bureau

This program was funded by the Evelyn Y. Davis Foundation. NPF is solely responsible for the content.