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In a few weeks, we’ll release the 2020 Census redistricting data in our legacy summary file format. And a few weeks after that, we’ll release the same data in an easier-to-use format.
We’re releasing the same data twice but in different formats at different times to make sure states get the data as quickly as possible. Acting Director Dr. Ron Jarmin explained these two releases in his blog, Redistricting Data: What to Expect and When. In this blog, I provide more detail about the formats and support materials available, particularly for the first release.
By August 16, we will provide redistricting data on our public FTP site in the summary file format we’ve provided in past decades.
The format consists of a group of pipe-delimited text files that include:
This format requires data users to use additional software and perform extra work to extract the data. To help states and other data users prepare, we’ve provided a number of materials. All of these materials are available on our Redistricting Data Program Management page. The materials include:
We’ve also created a video to show how to download, import and extract the data from the summary files.
We are focusing on getting the first data release out as quickly as possible and aim to include data visualizations and analysis either with that release or as soon as possible after it.
We’re also working to provide easier-to-use formats by September 30. In response to feedback we received after the 2010 Census, we decided when planning the 2020 Census that we would release the redistricting data in more user-friendly formats to empower everyone to access and use redistricting data.
By September 30, we will provide the same redistricting data we provided in August but in two additional formats that are easier to use:
We originally planned to provide the toolkits and data.census.gov platform as our primary methods of delivering the redistricting data, while simultaneously releasing the legacy format summary files on our FTP site. However, COVID-19-related delays and other processing decisions altered our schedule.
Adding the earlier release of the summary files (and providing tools to help data users prepare) was the best way to get the data to all the states as soon as possible.
We want to assure states that we are confident in their quality of this data for legislative redistricting, we would not release them otherwise.