USAFacts response to proposed regulations on demographic questions in the decennial census

The decennial census is the foundational data resource that underpins the entire US open data ecosystem. USAFacts uses this data every day when making government data easy to access and understand for the American public.

Earlier this week, USAFacts submitted a comment letter in response to the Commerce Department’s proposal to “prohibit the inclusion of questions about race and ethnicity or sexual orientation on the decennial census short-form questionnaire or any questionnaire used for the purposes of enumeration.” As the department considers the “need for or usefulness of this information,” our comment provides both context on the American public’s interest in this data and an analysis of what they search for online.

Our comment makes two main points:

• There is strong demand for the race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation population data that the department is considering prohibiting the decennial census from collecting: More than one-in-four of all measurable US-based Google searches for “US population” ask for this data by race and ethnicity or sexual orientation.
• Americans are frequently using government data to seek out information about themselves and their communities. Disaggregating the data by demographic metrics, including race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, makes it more useful for the American public.

The Department of Commerce’s best-in-class data is only made stronger and more useful when it serves all Americans.