Accessing 2020 Census Redistricting Data on data.census.

gov
Transcript
September 2021

Hi, my name is Maria, and today I’ll be showing you how to access the new 2020 Public
Law 94-171 Redistricting Data through data.census.gov.
Public Law 94-171 (P.L. 94-171) requires that the Census Bureau provide states the
opportunity to identify the geographic areas for which specific tabulations of population
are needed and deliver those tabulations to the states in a timely manner for the
purpose of legislative redistricting. Recently, we released a video tutorial on how to
access the 2010 P.L. 94-171 Redistricting Data and have developed this tutorial to show
you how to access the 2020 data and compare it to the data we have available from
2010.
So, let’s get started! Many users may want to access the new Redistricting Data to view
the population and housing counts for their community. To do this, navigate to our site
at data.census.gov and click on the Advanced Search button located directly under the
Single Search bar. Once you click on that link, you will see a list of filters on the left side
of the screen. To access the Redistricting Data, click on the ‘Surveys’ filter and select
the ‘Decennial Census’ option. Then, scroll down the list until you see ‘Redistricting Data’
with ‘PL 94-171’ in parentheses. Click on the checkbox directly to the left of this survey
title. Since we only want the newer tables from 2020, go to the ‘Years’ filter and select
‘2020’ from the list. Then, select the geography you want to view. For this example, I will
use the city of Atlanta, Georgia, so I’ll click on the ‘Geography’ filter, and then scroll until
I see the ‘Place’ geography. The ‘Place’ geography filter helps identify data available for
cities and towns. So, after we select ‘Place’, we will choose the state that our place is in.
Since Atlanta is in Georgia, you will click on ‘Georgia’ and the page will advance to show
all places in Georgia. Since this is quite an extensive list, I recommend using the search
bar that is available at the top of the panel. If you click on the magnifying glass icon in
the top right corner of the panel labeled ‘Georgia’, a search bar will appear, and you will
be able to search for places within Georgia. If I start typing ‘Atlanta’ into this search bar,
the panel will automatically update to show places in Georgia that match my search
term. Then, I’ll click on the checkbox directly to the left of ‘Atlanta city, Georgia’, which
should appear at the top of the list. Once those filters are applied, click on the ‘Search’
button, located at the bottom right corner of the screen directly to the right of the ‘Clear
Filters’ button. Tables P1, P2, P3, P4 and P5 contain population data, and Table H1
contains housing data. In this example, I will click on Table P1, ‘Race’, to view population
data for Atlanta broken down by race for the total population, and then return to the
results page and click on Table H1, ‘Occupancy Status’, to view the occupied and vacant
housing counts for Atlanta.
Accessing 2020 Census Redistricting Data on data.census.gov
Transcript
September 2021

But what if we want to view and download data for smaller geographic areas, such as
Census blocks? If we want to find Redistricting Data for all Census blocks within a
county or state, we can start another search by clicking on the US Census Bureau logo
in the upper left corner of the screen and hitting the Advanced Search button. Since
Census blocks are only available for the Decennial Census, we will only need to select
our geography in this search. For this example, I selected Census blocks from
Rockingham County, New Hampshire. Like our other searches, you’ll click on
‘Geography’, and then ‘Block’. Scroll down the next list of states and select ‘New
Hampshire’, and then click on ‘Rockingham County, New Hampshire’ from the county
list. Next, you’ll need to select the Census tract. For this example, I chose ‘Census Tract
1001’ from Rockingham County. The last step is to select the blocks you wish to view. I
just selected a few blocks towards the top of the list. Then, click on the ‘Search’ button.
Select any table to view, for this example I again chose table P1, ‘Race’. To download
the table to your computer, click on the ‘Download’ button on the top left side of the
screen above the table list. This action will prompt empty checkboxes to appear beside
each table name in the list on the left side of the screen. You can select multiple tables
to download at once, but for now, let’s just select table P1. Once that table is selected,
scroll up to the ‘Download Selected’ button at the top of the list and click on it. A pop-up
menu will appear confirming that you’re downloading the 2020 Redistricting Data as a
CSV file. Once you click the Download button in the lower right corner of the screen,
you’ll receive a message stating that the site is preparing the files. Once that is done, hit
the Download Now button. This will download the .zip file to your Download folder on
your computer. Once you click on the download folder, you may be prompted to unzip
the contents of the .zip file to one of the file folders present on your computer. I want to
unzip the files to my ‘Downloads’ folder, so I’m going to click on ‘Yes, unzip the files to
Downloads'. Next, I’m going to navigate to the download folder and open the file that
has “data with overlays” in the naming convention and select the file to open in Excel.
Now that I’ve clicked on that file and have finished waiting for it to open in Excel, I can
see the data available for the Census blocks I’ve selected in the Excel file.
You can also find and map PL 94-171 data through data.census.gov. Let’s say you want
to find group quarters data by congressional district in your state. Again, we would click
on the US Census Bureau logo and go to the Advanced Search. Select the Survey
‘Redistricting Data (PL 94-171)’ from the ‘Decennial Census’ category. Next, let’s select
congressional districts in Illinois for this example. Through the ‘Geography’ filter, you
will select ‘Congressional Districts’ and then ‘Illinois’ as the state. Then, select ‘All
Congressional Districts for the 116th Congress in Illinois and click the ‘Search’ button as
we did in our previous example searches. For this example, I chose table P5, ‘Group
Accessing 2020 Census Redistricting Data on data.census.gov
Transcript
September 2021

Quarters by Major Group Quarters Type’. This is an additional table that was added to
the 2020 Redistricting Data. Once you choose table P5, click on the ‘Maps’ button that is
on the top left side of the screen above the table list. This will show a map that will
zoom in on the state of Illinois and display the 116th congressional district boundaries
for the state of Illinois. The map will automatically default to show the 2020 PL Total
Group Quarters Population of each Congressional District. To change the data variable
that the map is showing, click on the arrow directly to the right of the ‘Total’ button,
which is located on the top left side of the page above the map view. From there, you
can scroll down the list and select any of the other variables that are present in the table
to view within the map. You can also use the search feature directly above the list to
find a particular data variable. For example, if I want to find a data variable that contains
the word ‘student’, I can type ‘student’ in the search bar and then select the variable
‘Total: - Noninstitutionalized population: - College/University student housing’. Notice
that the map updates with data for the new variable I selected, and the map now shows
that Congressional districts in darker shades of blue have a higher number of students
who are living in college or university housing.

With the release of the 2020 Redistricting Data, you’ll also be able to compare data from
the 2010 Redistricting Data as well. To do this return to the main landing page and then
click on the ‘Advanced Search’ button again. From there, select the ‘Redistricting Data’
option again through the ‘Survey’ filter panel. Next, select the geography you wish to
view. For this example, let’s choose all counties within the state of Alabama. To do this,
go to the ‘Geography’ filter and select ‘County’. Then, select the state of ‘Alabama’. In
the next filter panel, select ‘All counties within Alabama, which is located at the top of
the list, and the click on the ‘Search’ button on the bottom right corner of the screen.
There are five tables that will appear in the results page that are available for both 2010
and 2020 For this example search, I chose table P3, ‘Race for the Population 18 Years
and Over’. Once we click on the table, it will automatically default to the most recent
2020 data. To toggle between the 2010 and 2020 data, navigate to the ‘Product’
dropdown menu located at the top of the screen above the table. When you click on the
downward facing chevron, you have the option of viewing either the 2010 or 2020
Redistricting Data. When you click on the 2010 option, the table will automatically
update to show data from 2010. You can toggle between 2010 and 2020 to compare
the data directly and can see the changes in the geographies you’ve selected.
In this final example, let me show you a few features that will allow you to customize PL
94-171 data tables in the table view. We will return to the Advanced Search page once
Accessing 2020 Census Redistricting Data on data.census.gov
Transcript
September 2021

again and select our ‘Surveys’ and ‘Years’ filters. Then, click on the Search button and
select a table to view. For this example, I chose table P4, ‘Hispanic or Latino, and Not
Hispanic or Latino by Race for the Population 18 Years and Over’. Next, click on the
‘Customize Table’ button located at the top right corner of the screen above the table.
This new view, which is called the ‘Customize Table view,’ is where you can access a lot
of different functionality by clicking on the buttons in the ribbon located above the table.
For example, the ‘Customize Table’ view provides another way to add additional filters
to the table. You can select any of the Filters that would be present on the Advanced
Search page for this survey and the table will automatically update to reflect the applied
filters. You can also view Table Notes, which are shown here and can be hidden by
clicking on the ‘Notes’ button again. You can also download or export the table to Excel,
Print the table, or use the Map button to return to the map view of this table.
I hope this tutorial provided insight on how to access the new 2020 PL 94-171
Redistricting Data through data.census.gov. For more guidance on using our site, please
visit our Resources page at the link provided below. Thank you!