The U.S. Census Bureau will release data from the 2020 census in easier-to-use formats at data.census.gov on Sept. 16, the agency recently announced. The Census Bureau also said it would deliver DVDs and flash drives of the data to state legislatures and redistricting authorities on that date. It had previously announced that it would release this summary data by Sept. 30.
The Census Bureau released block-level data from the 2020 census in a legacy format on Aug. 12, which included county-level demographic information. That release allowed allows states to begin the process of drawing congressional and state legislative district maps.
The decennial census is mandated by the U. S. Constitution, and a census has been conducted every 10 years since 1790. The 2020 census was the 24th conducted.
The Census Bureau was originally scheduled to deliver redistricting data to the states by March 30, but the process was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Sixteen states have constitutional deadlines requiring that they complete their legislative redistricting this year, and eight have such deadlines to complete their congressional redistricting.
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