NOV. 5, 2024 — The U.S. Census Bureau is scheduled to hold a webinar November 19 to share the work underway on the Race/Ethnicity Coding Improvement Project and how the public can provide feedback on this work.

The Race/Ethnicity Coding Improvement Project is focused on how detailed race/ethnicity populations and American Indian or Alaska Native tribes and villages will be coded in the American Community Survey (ACS) and 2030 Census. Coding is the process that assigns a numeric code to each response provided by the public to the race/ethnicity question. The race/ethnicity code list shows how detailed responses to the race/ethnicity questions are coded and classified, which informs how data are tabulated in ACS and decennial census data products.

The Census Bureau classifies and tabulates race/ethnicity data following standards set by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 (SPD 15), which were updated earlier this year. 

Additionally, the Census Bureau has posted a Federal Register notice (FRN) seeking public comments about the Race/Ethnicity Coding Improvement Project. The Census Bureau is only seeking feedback on how race/ethnicity groups and American Indian or Alaska Native tribes and villages will be internally coded. This FRN is not seeking feedback on OMB’s updated SPD 15 standards.

All feedback provided to the FRN will be considered by the Census Bureau, but code list updates must meet three criteria: there is strong federal scientific research and evidence supporting the update, stakeholder feedback supports the update, and the update aligns with the definitions of the seven minimum race/ethnicity reporting categories in the updated SPD 15.

The public may provide feedback to the FRN from now until February 18, 2025.

You can learn much more about what the race/ethnicity code list is, how it works, and the types of feedback the Census Bureau is seeking in the blog, “Updating the Race/Ethnicity Code List for the American Community Survey and the 2030 Census.”

For additional information, visit the Census Bureau’s press kit, “Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Race and Ethnicity Standards,” and the Office of Management and Budget’s webpage about Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity.

Updating the Race/Ethnicity Code List for the American Community Survey and Decennial Census Webinar

Tuesday, November 19, 2024, at 2 p.m. ET  

• Merarys Ríos-Vargas, chief, Ethnicity and Ancestry Branch, Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau, speaker
• Jessica Peña, acting branch chief, Racial Statistics Branch, Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau, speaker
• Julie Iriondo, chief, Media Relations Branch, Public Information Office, U.S. Census Bureau, moderator

• Roberto Ramirez, assistant division chief, Special Population Statistics, Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau
• Rachel Marks, senior advisor, Race/Ethnicity, Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau
• Alli Coritz, senior analyst, Racial Statistics Branch, Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau

The virtual event will consist of a simultaneous audio conference and online presentation. Credentialed media and stakeholders will be able to ask questions at the conclusion of the presentation via the phone line provided below.

WebEx Link

• Webinar password (if requested): Census#1
• Webinar number (if requested): 2821 743 5201

Audio: For telephone audio option (or to ask a question), call:

• 1-800-369-3163
• Passcode: 6304032

Live closed captioning will be available at this link.