May 9, 2023: Today, the Census Bureau released a summary of feedback received on the Proof of Concept for the 2020 Census Detailed Demographic and Housing Characteristics File A (Detailed DHC-A). The Proof of Concept was released on January 31, 2023, for a 30-day public comment period that ended March 2, 2023. The final Detailed DHC-A based on 2020 Census data is slated for release this September. 

We are grateful to those who shared their thoughts and analyses with us. Your feedback helped us understand whether additional improvements were needed prior to finalizing the Detailed DHC-A for production. 

The Detailed DHC-A will provide population counts and sex and age statistics for detailed racial and ethnic groups and American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and villages. The Proof of Concept outlined how the product’s differentially private algorithm, called SafeTab-P, uses an adaptive design that determines the amount of data racial and ethnic groups receive based on group size and geography level while ensuring sufficient confidentiality protections.  

Of the 18 comments received, three were out of scope, as their content was unrelated to the Proof of Concept (providing feedback on geographic boundaries, updates needed in future censuses to accurately capture hard-to-count communities and the minimum categories for race and ethnicity collection). The remaining 15 comments were included in our analysis.  

Commenters Emphasize Need for Guidance 

Most commenters focused on the need to make the Detailed DHC-A as simple and clear for data users to understand and use as possible. Feedback along these lines ranged from recommendations to create easy-to-understand guidance for aggregation to recommending that the margins of errors be easy to find and aggregate for data users.  

Twelve commenters were concerned about the Census Bureau’s caution against aggregating Detailed DHC-A data, noting that data users will aggregate with or without additional guidance. 

In response to the feedback, we will provide expanded guidance on using the Detailed DHC-A in the Technical Documentation and future guidance materials. 

Visit the Detailed DHC-A section of the Disclosure Avoidance Modernization page to read the detailed summary and full-text of all comments received.  

As always, please reach out to us at 2020DAS@census.gov with any questions or comments.

Useful Links

• Newsletter: Released for Feedback: Detailed DHC-A Proof of Concept (1/31/2023)
• Summary of Public Feedback Received on the Detailed Demographic and Housing Characteristics File A (Detailed DHC-A) Proof of Concept