The 2020 census is a point-in-time count of all individuals living in the United States on April 1, 2020. As part of ensuring complete and accurate data, the Census Bureau gives communities the opportunity to request a review of their census count. This process, known as the Census Count Question Resolution (CQR) program, began on January 3, 2022.
CQR is limited in its scope. Notably, it does not address potential omissions in the 2020 Census. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Census Bureau faced unique challenges to collecting data on populations living in group quarters facilities during the census.
To address these issues, the Bureau has proposed a new program to deal with these omissions, known as the 2020 Post-Census Group Quarters Review (PCGQR). Comments on this Federal Register Notice are due by January 18, 2022.
The Bureau has a number of special operations to count individuals who do not live in households. The Group Quarters enumeration counts people in group living facilities. This includes individuals in institutional facilities, such as jails, prisons, and nursing homes, as well as non-institutional facilities such as dormitories and military barracks.
We don’t know the exact specifications of the program yet. Right now, PCGQR is a proposed program and the Census Bureau is soliciting comments. For example, we don’t yet know:
What we do know is that successful outcomes:
Comments to the current Federal Register Notice are due January 18, 2022. Individuals interested in making a comment should consider guidance provided by the Census Quality Reinforcement Task Force and encourage the Bureau to:
For example, I looked at Tyrrell County in North Carolina, which had a change from 626 individuals living in correctional facilities for adults in 2010 to 0 in 2020. Is this an omission? A search for local news stories reveals that no, it is not; instead, a federal prison work farm closed in late 2019 and the 2020 Census numbers accurately reflected this closure.
Find something you think is a potential issue? We’re trying to develop a running list, so please share your findings with us at demography@unc.edu
Need help understanding population change and its impacts on your community or business? Carolina Demography offers demographic research tailored to your needs.
Contact us today at demography@unc.edu for a free initial consultation.
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