The 2020 Census Archiving (ARC) operation coordinated the storage of materials and data and provided 2020 Census records deemed permanent to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), including files containing individual responses.

It was also responsible for storing data to cover in-house needs and for providing similar files to the National Processing Center to conduct the Age Search Service.

As of 2022, the ARC operation began its closeout process with an expected operational finish date in 2025. ARC’s closeout includes testing the transfer of simulated data to NARA and then ultimately transferring permanent records to NARA in production.

The testing with simulated data began in March 2022 and ended April 2022, facilitated by designated U.S. Census Bureau and NARA personnel. Once testing completed, the Census Bureau and NARA began preparing for the transfer of permanent Census Bureau records in production. The remaining permanent records are expected to be sent to NARA in mid-2022, 2023, and 2024.

The purpose of this document is to report on ARC’s progress for the 2020 Census as well as provide further detail on the process of archiving 2020 Census data. This document was created to be used as a resource for the planning of the 2030 Census Archiving operation.

Because of the extended timeframe needed for archiving 2020 Census records and transferring them to NARA, this assessment will only cover a portion of the program such as the planning, preparation, and some deliveries for ARC.