NOVA Region Dashboard
2020 Census Results
The redistricting demographic data file, the first of two 2020 Census products, was released on August 12, 2021. This file contains population, race/ethnicity, age, housing units, and housing tenure data for counties, cities, and geographies as small as census blocks. The second product set will contain more detail demographic and housing characteristics data.
Census Bureau National Data and Analysis
As part of the August 12,2021 redistricting data release, the Census Bureau released data visualizations, America Counts stories, and videos to help illustrate and explain these data.
NVRC Regional Data and Analysis
Northern Virginia Regional Commission plans to do extensive data analysis of the region. Results of the data analyses will be posted on this NOVA Region Dashboard website.
Initial analysis of the population of the region is available by navigating to the people data.
The NOVA Region dashboard will be continually updated over the coming months with new analysis and findings presented. Check back regularly!
Data Release Timeline of 2020 Census
RELEASED: August and September 2021
Redistricting demographic data released to the public. Includes online Data Explorer tool allowing the redistricting 2020 Census demographic data to be easily viewed and extracted using the Census Bureau's data dissemination tool, data.census.gov.
UPCOMING: May 25, 2023 and September 2023
The Demographics and Housing Characteristics files for the 2020 Census will be released in phases in 2023. The files will contain the 2020 Census data that was not released with the redistricting data file, including characteristics of the population (i.e. age, sex), characteristics of households (i.e. household size, rent/own, families), and detailed race/ethnic breakdowns by place of origin, age, and other demographic characteristics.
On March 27, 2023, the U.S. Census Bureau announced a revised product release timeline for the final 2020 Census data products.
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The Demographic Profile and Demographic and Housing Characteristics will be released on May 25, 2023.
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The Detailed Demographic and Housing Characteristics file will be released in three phases, with the first one being the Detailed DHC-A scheduled for September 2023. The second one is the Detailed DHC-B and the third is the Supplemental DHC (S-DHC), both of which will have their scheduled release dates announced in May 2023.
Privacy and Accuracy of 2020 Census Data
For decades, the U.S. Census Bureau has used different techniques to protect individual privacy through their Disclosure Avoidance System (DAS). Differential Privacy (DP) is the latest technique. This technique was chosen because enhanced privacy protection is needed due to advances in technology that enable the ability to identify individuals when combined with other information. DP will impact data accuracy more than any other technique previously applied to decennial census results. DP will add random data (“noise”) to counts for geographic areas below the state level, to prevent identification of individuals. The amount of noise added to the data will be greater than any prior decennial census technique.
Since 2019, Northern Virginia jurisdictions, through the Northern Virginia Regional Commission (NVRC), have been participating in the U.S. Census Bureau’s DP demonstration data review and provided feedback to the U.S. Census Bureau, with the latest provided for the April 2021 round, the U.S. Census Bureau's final round of feedback. The following document is a brief overview of differential privacy and impacts it has on data quality. Click on the image to download.
Download a copy of the
differential privacy fact sheet
(updated August 13, 2021)
