Each month the Census Counts team compiles Census-related news from a wide swath of national and regional media outlets to keep data equity stakeholders informed and engaged.

As always, you can find earlier clips here. 

February 24, 2025 Census Coalition Clips

National

NBC News | News People with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by natural disasters, Census data shows 

At least eight of the more than 20 known fatalities from the January fires were elderly or disabled, the latest example of how these groups are especially vulnerable during natural disasters. Disabled people are almost twice as likely to be displaced by natural disasters, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. For some groups, like those who require nonverbal communication methods, the likelihood of displacement can be even higher. The data also shows that once displaced, 21% of people with disabilities say they never return home, nearly four times the rate for those without disabilities.

Ash Reynolds | February 23, 2025

NBC News | News Do you need to make $100,000 to buy a home? Census data says yes  

Do you need to make more than $100,000 to buy a home? More and more, the answer is yes. The median income for new homebuyers has increased sharply since the Covid pandemic and surpassed six figures, according to an NBC News analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. Experts say this is an omen of economic distress. The change reflects the exclusivity of today’s housing market, one where even prospective buyers with a six-figure salary can struggle.

Jasmine Cui | February 22, 2025

USA Today | News The rise of multigenerational housing: Why we’re seeing more generations under one roof 

While young adults moving in with parents drive the trend, Pew Research has also tracked an uptick among older age groups, with some households going so far as to build out space for their extended family. It’s a departure from the nuclear family structure that has become standard practice in America, but multigenerational living advocates say there’s reason to celebrate a trend that offers both emotional and financial perks. Homes with at least two generations of adults over 24 or grandparents with younger grandchildren quadrupled between 1971 to 2021 to nearly 60 million homes, according to Pew Research. One of the main drivers behind more young adults living with their parents? Housing prices, according to research from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Bailey Schulz | February 22, 2025

NPR | News Census Bureau stopped work on data for protecting trans rights, former director says 

After President Trump put out an executive order targeting gender identity, the U.S. Census Bureau stopped work on producing statistics that could help protect the rights of transgender people, the bureau’s recently departed leader tells NPR. The bureau, which is the federal government’s largest statistical agency, has taken steps to remove gender identity questions from at least four separate surveys it conducts. They include the National Crime Victimization Survey and the National Health Interview Survey, Robert Santos tells NPR in his first published interview since resigning last week.

Hansi Lo Wang | February 21, 2025

Public Knowledge | News New Orders are Scrubbing the Internet of Equity, Dismantling Transparency, and Making it Harder To Implement Bipartisan Law 

Last week, while researching matters related to the bipartisan Digital Equity Act, I noticed that some online public resources were inaccessible. Maybe it was a glitch – a short outage? – but I checked back later, and still nothing. And I wasn’t the only one experiencing these problems. Why? Here, I explain what led to this and reveal how removing critical data on government websites is contrary to the public interest and the law. There’s a strong bipartisan consensus that transparency matters, especially as it relates to the implementation and expenditure of the public’s tax dollars — in this specific instance, public dollars supplied by the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that houses the Digital Equity Act. Removing information from the internet – data that was and should be publicly available, data that the Census Bureau itself published – is not transparent.

Peter Gregory | February 19, 2025

The Washington Post | News This data may vanish under Trump, so we charted it 

For a few days this month, some of the most valuable datasets in human history vanished from U.S. government websites, often without warning and with no guidance about what would happen next. To those of us who have gone on record describing the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey as a wonder of the modern world, watching its files disappear from a federal FTP server felt like watching the Library of Alexandria go up in smoke. 

Andrew Van Dam | February 14, 2025

Blog Posts and Reports

The Leadership Conference | Blog Disappearing Data: Why We Must Stop Trump’s Attempts to Erase Our Communities 

Over the last several weeks, we have seen a strategic effort by the Trump administration to remove commonly used datasets and resources that document economic, social, and health disparities faced by millions of people. These rollbacks not only threaten the integrity of scientific research but are a deliberate attempt to suppress visibility and recognition of underserved communities. These datasets must be restored in their entirety and made publicly available, and federal agencies must recommit to accessible, responsible, and inclusive data collection. Data are not just numbers — they represent real people, real experiences, and real disparities. Data tell the stories of our country. Data make visible communities who have long been stigmatized, discriminated against, and underserved in policymaking.

Caroline Medina, Naomi Goldberg, and Meeta Anand | February 20, 2025

U.S. Census Bureau | Press Release New Residential Construction Press Release 

Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,483,000. This is 0.1 percent above the revised December rate of 1,482,000, but is 1.7 percent below the January 2024 rate of 1,508,000. Single-family authorizations in January were at a rate of 996,000; this is virtually unchanged from the revised December figure of 996,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 427,000 in January.

Public Information Office | February 19, 2025