AUGUST 1, 2024 — The U.S. Census Bureau today released 2020 Census counts of households, along with information on household type and tenure (whether the home is owned or rented) for 300 detailed race and ethnicity groups and 1,187 American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and villages. The 2020 Census Detailed Demographic and Housing Characteristics File B (Detailed DHC-B) provides household information based on the race or ethnicity of the householder (the first adult in a household for whom census responses were provided).  

The Detailed DHC-B data are available for the nation, states, counties, places, census tracts and American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian (AIANNH) areas.  

Today’s data product is the companion product to the Detailed DHC-A, which provided total population and the number of males and females by age for the same detailed groups. The Detailed DHC-A was released in September 2023. 

The Detailed DHC-B includes data for the household population only. Group quarters (such as college dormitories, prisons or military barracks) are excluded from this data product.  

For more information about what the Detailed DHC-B includes, visit the blog "Understanding the Detailed Demographic and Housing Characteristics File B."

Exploring the Data 

The America Counts story “Who Lives in Homes They Own?” examines the detailed race and ethnicity of owner-occupied households nationally and by state.  

The complete set of Detailed DHC-B tables are available on data.census.gov. For assistance accessing and using the data, check out the short videos and how-to guides with screenshots in the Detailed DHC-B Press Kit. The data are also available on the Census Bureau’s Application Programming Interface (API) and as a summary file for easier bulk download. 

Data Quality and Confidentiality 

The amount of data available for the detailed racial and ethnic groups and AIAN tribes and villages depends on their population size within a specific geography. This approach allows the Census Bureau to produce as much detail as possible while ensuring confidentiality protections and maintaining the Census Bureau’s accuracy standards. More information, including data user guidance and tips, is available on the Detailed DHC-B webpage and in the technical documentation. 

For more information on how the Census Bureau collects, codes and tabulates statistics on race and Hispanic or Latino origin, explore the 2020 Census Detailed DHC-A Technical Documentation and the blog "What You Should Know About the Upcoming Detailed Demographic and Housing Characteristics File A."

Data User Feedback Helped Shape the Final Data Release 

Also today, the Census Bureau released a summary of comments submitted by data users on a Proof of Concept for the Detailed DHC-B, which was released earlier this year on January 29, 2024. Data users were invited to comment on the proposed table content, adaptive design, measures of data accuracy, and other product features.  

We received written comments from three sets of data users (and additional verbal feedback from stakeholder engagement not summarized in the document). These came via the 2020 DAS email, advisory meetings, tribal consultations, and comments provided during presentations at conferences and the Disclosure Avoidance Webinar Series. This feedback was invaluable and informed our efforts and decision-making. For example, after receiving feedback on the Detailed DHC-B Proof of Concept, the confidence interval was increased from 90 percent to 95 percent resulting in more accurate data and fewer outliers.  

You may wish to review the January 29, 2024, webinar on the Proof of Concept for the Detailed DHC-B for more information on the algorithm and the Detailed DHC-B's adaptive design. 

We are grateful for your feedback. It helped us improve the final product to better meet your data needs. 

Just Released: New 2020 Census Detailed DHC-B Guidance  

Today's release also includes guidance to help data users work with the new Detailed DHC-B. The brief, "Disclosure Avoidance and the 2020 Census: How SafeTab-H Works," includes guidance on:

• How you should (and should not) use the Detailed DHC-B data,
• Calculating percentages,
• Understanding suppressed counts,
• Comparing to other U.S. Census Bureau data sources, and
• Aggregating the Detailed DHC-B data.

Note that SafeTab-H is the algorithm used to protect the data product.