The U.S. Census Bureau has officially released its final data product from the 2020 Census: the Supplemental Demographic and Housing Characteristics File (S-DHC). This release marks a significant milestone, as it brings a wealth of detailed information about households and the people living in them across the United States, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia.
This new data provides a closer look at various aspects of household and population characteristics, offering insights that can benefit researchers, policymakers, businesses, and community organizations.
Here’s what you’ll find in the S-DHC:
In addition, many of these data points are further broken down by race and Hispanic origin groups, including:
This level of detail makes the S-DHC a powerful resource for understanding how different demographic groups experience household life in America.
One of the standout insights from the S-DHC is highlighted in the America Counts story, “Majority of U.S. Population in Households Lived in Coupled Households in 2020.” The story examines how many people lived in coupled households—those where a householder lives with a spouse or partner. This analysis provides a clearer picture of household dynamics across states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
For those interested in exploring the data in detail, the full set of S-DHC tables is available on data.census.gov.
Understanding the S-DHC data is made easier with the resources provided by the Census Bureau. These include short videos, guides, and screenshots that walk users through accessing and using the data. These tools are especially helpful for people who may be unfamiliar with navigating the Census Bureau’s platforms or those looking for specific insights.
The data are also available via the Census Bureau’s API, enabling developers and researchers to integrate this rich dataset into their projects and applications.
As with all Census Bureau data, protecting the privacy of individuals and households is a top priority. The S-DHC data employs advanced methods to ensure confidentiality, including the use of “statistical noise.”
Here’s how it works: small, random adjustments are added to the data, making it impossible to link published numbers to specific individuals or households. Additionally, for certain large households, some individuals may be removed from the published data to further safeguard privacy.
For the first time, the Census Bureau has included credible intervals with its estimates. These intervals provide a range of values within which the actual data likely falls, offering transparency about the level of uncertainty introduced by the confidentiality measures.
Notably, Mary Pritts from New Light Technologies supported the team at the Census Bureau to ensure the dataset's accuracy and accessibility. She contributed to the disclosure avoidance work by performing data checks on the statistical noise, including evaluating the truncation of large households. She also performed accuracy analysis by comparing S-DHC and DHC experimental 2010 data with the published 2010 Census Hundred-percent Detail File (HDF).
If you’re interested in the technical details behind these processes, the Census Bureau provides an in-depth explanation in the brief titled “Disclosure Avoidance and the Supplemental Demographic and Housing Characteristics File (S-DHC): How PHSafe Works.”
Data from the S-DHC has applications across various sectors. For example:
By providing this level of detail, the S-DHC data helps paint a more complete picture of the U.S. population and its living arrangements.
The complete set of S-DHC tables is accessible on data.census.gov. Whether you’re looking for national data or information specific to a state, region, or demographic group, the platform makes it easy to find what you need.
For those who prefer a more technical approach, the Census Bureau’s API provides another way to work with the data.
If you’re new to these tools, the Census Bureau’s press kit for the S-DHC includes helpful tutorials and resources. These step-by-step guides are designed to make the data accessible to a wide audience, regardless of technical expertise.
For additional information and to view the original press release from the Census Bureau, visit their newsroom at Census Bureau Press Release: Final 2020 Census Data Product.
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