The purpose of the 2020 Count Review Operation (CRO) was to enhance the accuracy of 2020 Census housing units and group quarters address files and to conduct a coordinated review of the 2020 Census counts. CRO activities for the 2020 Census consisted of two phases: 1) the Federal-State Cooperative for Population Estimates (FSCPE) Address Review, and 2) Census Count and File Review (CCFR).

During the FSCPE Address Review, the state participants were able to identify housing units and group quarters that may not have been added to the Census Master Address File (MAF). They also provided additional information for group quarters that could not be enumerated in the Group Quarters Enumeration operation.

All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico submitted address data to be reviewed, and 81 percent provided both housing units and group quarters addresses.

During CCFR, census responses and subsequent decennial data files are reviewed at multiple levels of geography as the data transform from the Decennial Response File (DRF) to the Census Unedited File (CUF) to the Census Edited File (CEF) to the Microdata File (MDF).

The CCFR phase used the Census Review Analysis and Visualization Application (CRAVA) to aid in evaluating the data collected for the 2020 Census. CRAVA provides users with the capability to identify outliers across three mediums: maps, charts, and tables. The use of CRAVA allowed those with limited or no programming experience the ability to conduct a competent review of the data.

This assessment documents the challenges, results, and successes of implementing the operation for historical and information purposes and to provide recommendations for future CRO.