{"id":1586922,"date":"2022-06-02T05:30:42","date_gmt":"2022-06-02T12:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=1586922"},"modified":"2025-08-18T06:55:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T13:55:40","slug":"census-2020-realignment-by-esri","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/esri-demographics\/state-government\/census-2020-realignment-by-esri","title":{"rendered":"Esri Realigns Census 2020 Data for Esri Updated Demographics"},"author":6491,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":""},"categories":[22871],"tags":[24721,646321,24571,26291,266462],"industry":[],"product":[36711,36581,37011],"class_list":["post-1586922","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-state-government","tag-bao","tag-census-2020","tag-demographics","tag-esri-data","tag-esri-demographics","product-bus-analyst","product-arcgis-living-atlas","product-esri-demographics"],"acf":{"authors":[{"ID":6491,"user_firstname":"Kyle","user_lastname":"R. Cassal","nickname":"Kyle R. Cassal","user_nicename":"kyle6220","display_name":"Kyle R. Cassal","user_email":"KReeseCassal@esri.com","user_url":"http:\/\/www.esri.com\/data\/esri_data","user_registered":"2018-03-02 00:18:25","user_description":"Kyle R. Cassal, Chief Demographer at Esri, is the lead developer for Esri\u2019s Data Development team. His team is responsible for producing independent demographic and socioeconomic updates and forecasts for the United States. These data are leveraged across the Esri platform through web maps, infographics, data enrichment and custom applications including Business Analyst and the Living Atlas of the World. In addition to processing US Census and ACS data, his team produces unique and innovative databases such as Tapestry Segmentation, Consumer Spending and Market Potential which are now industry benchmarks.","user_avatar":""}],"short_description":"Esri has realigned data in over 500 block groups to account for irregularities in the Census 2020 redistricting data ","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Esri is committed to helping our users understand and leverage data from the United States Census Bureau. The decennial census is our once-a-decade snapshot of population and housing in the United States and has long been considered the gold standard for demographic data analysis. No two censuses are alike, and the 2020 decennial census includes notable changes to protect individuals\u2019 privacy. As privacy protections are strengthened, some statistics at smaller levels of geography are compromised. Esri has realigned many of these irregularities so that Esri Updated Demographics provides the highest quality small area analysis possible.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

What decennial census data have the Census Bureau released?<\/h2>\n

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, data products from the decennial census are behind schedule relative to last decade. Redistricting Data (P.L. 94-171) from Census 2020 was released August 12, 2021. This product consists of census data at the block level and above for six tables covering race, ethnicity, population above and below 18 years of age, housing and group quarters. This product is used by the states and local jurisdictions to delineate voting districts for the next decade.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s different about decennial census data this decade?<\/h2>\n

The Census Bureau is required to maintain the confidentiality of individuals’ data under Title 13 of the United States Code. To satisfy this requirement, the Census Bureau changed to a new type of disclosure avoidance system for Census 2020. This system, called differential privacy, is an approach that aims to provide mathematical privacy assurances by adding uncertainty, or \u201cnoise,\u201d to statistics. Census 2020 represents the first large-scale application of this new privacy system<\/a> in the public data sphere.<\/p>\n

What does \u201cnoise\u201d in Census 2020 data look like?<\/h2>\n

There has always been intentional noise<\/a> in decennial census data, however differentially privatized data can produce results that users are not accustomed to. The magnitude of noise chosen by the Census Bureau aims to find a balance between accuracy and privacy. In general, noise will be less evident in large areas and more evident in small areas. Similarly, noise will be less evident in large groups of population or households and more evident in smaller groups of population or households. Differential privacy treats housing and population universes separately. Many of the irregularities such as negative or non-integer values created by this approach have been corrected by the Census Bureau through post-processing, however some spurious results remain in the published data. Although preventing respondent reidentification is critical, in some cases the results of this technique can produce impossible or improbable statistics.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":1587072,"id":1587072,"title":"BG360470129.011","filename":"BG360470129.011.png","filesize":370530,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2022\/05\/BG360470129.011.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/esri-demographics\/state-government\/census-2020-realignment-by-esri\/bg360470129-011","alt":"","author":"6491","description":"","caption":"1 of over 500 realigned Block Groups: This Block Group next to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY has 1 household with 52 people living in it. Upon further review the area had no housing in Census 2010 and currently contains a subway station, mattress store and sporting good store. ","name":"bg360470129-011","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":1586922,"date":"2022-05-27 22:27:39","modified":"2022-06-01 20:50:53","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":810,"height":666,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2022\/05\/BG360470129.011-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2022\/05\/BG360470129.011.png","medium-width":317,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2022\/05\/BG360470129.011.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":631,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2022\/05\/BG360470129.011.png","large-width":810,"large-height":666,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2022\/05\/BG360470129.011.png","1536x1536-width":810,"1536x1536-height":666,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2022\/05\/BG360470129.011.png","2048x2048-width":810,"2048x2048-height":666,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2022\/05\/BG360470129.011-566x465.png","card_image-width":566,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2022\/05\/BG360470129.011.png","wide_image-width":810,"wide_image-height":666}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

What is Census 2020 Realignment by Esri?<\/h2>\n

For many variables in Esri Updated Demographics, Esri uses decennial census data as a base for current year estimates. Rather than building upon data that are known to be suspect or in error, Esri has realigned the Census 2020 data at the block group level to ensure that our current year estimates are built upon a more accurate base. Esri used detailed imagery, prior census data, third-party data and internal Esri databases to make modifications to the 2020 redistricting data to eliminate known instances of impossible or improbable data at the block group level.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s examine some of the redistricting data anomalies that Esri has targeted for realignment.<\/p>\n

Improbable Statistics<\/strong><\/h3>\n

While not impossible, these statistics are considered very improbable and warrant additional scrutiny.<\/p>\n