# 2020 Changes in Race and Ethnicity

**URL:** <https://forum.ipums.org/t/2020-changes-in-race-and-ethnicity/5079>\
**Category:** USA\
**Created:** [January 23, 2023, 5:53pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/2020-changes-in-race-and-ethnicity/5079 "2023-01-23T17:53:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Greg\_Oliven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3be4f8/32.png) [@Greg\_Oliven](https://forum.ipums.org/u/Greg_Oliven)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2023, 5:53pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/2020-changes-in-race-and-ethnicity/5079/1 "2023-01-23T17:53:13Z")

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Hi, can you confirm that the 2020 changes in how Race and Ethnicity are tabulated in the decennial census did not affect the same in the ACS (iPUMS USA)?

Many thanks.

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**Author:** ![MPC\_vanriper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@MPC\_vanriper](https://forum.ipums.org/u/MPC_vanriper)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2023, 11:00pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/2020-changes-in-race-and-ethnicity/5079/2 "2023-01-23T23:00:15Z")

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Dear Greg,

The revised Race and Ethnicity coding system was implemented for the 2020 (and 2021) ACS Public-Use Microdata Samples, according to Census Bureau [documentation](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/technical-documentation/user-notes/2021-03.html). The IPUMS versions of those PUMS files will reflect the coding system applied to the files.

Social Explorer published a [blog post](https://www.socialexplorer.com/blog/post/racial-ethnic-changes-according-to-the-newly-released-2021-acs-1-year-estimates-12939) detailing differences in the 2019 and 2021 ACS data releases. Users of the 2019 and 2021 ACS microdata samples will observe similar differences.

Sincerely,  
Dave Van Riper

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**Author:** ![Greg\_Oliven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3be4f8/32.png) [@Greg\_Oliven](https://forum.ipums.org/u/Greg_Oliven)\
**Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 1:35am UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/2020-changes-in-race-and-ethnicity/5079/3 "2023-01-24T01:35:16Z")

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Hi Dave, thanks for your response. The thing I was worried about was that I might have missed a change in how you implement the individual bivariate variables in the PUMS data. But it seems they work the same way, but the distribution across them has changed due to the changes the Bureau has undertaken. Thanks again.