The U.S. Census Bureau announced a critical deadline for the 2026 Census Test, urging selected households in the Huntsville, Alabama, and Spartanburg, South Carolina, metro areas to respond online by August 31, 2026. Participation is vital for improving the accuracy of the upcoming 2030 Census, with responses due by midnight Eastern Time.
In other developments, the Census Bureau is set to release version 5.12 of its Census Business Builder (CBB) tool on August 26. This update features streamlined visual styling, clearer selection prompts, and enhanced legend and dashboard functionality. It also includes expanded industry information, improved tooltips, and new data such as per capita income across all geographic levels, alongside a new national level geography option and bug fixes.
Additionally, the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS) will be released on August 27. This survey provides biweekly experimental data on business conditions, representing all employer businesses in the U.S. economy, excluding farms. The data offers timely insights into economic measures, available by sector, state, employment size, and the 25 most populous metropolitan statistical areas.
The Census Bureau also highlighted the Department of Commerce's Department Administrative Order (DAO) 216-26, "Disclosure Avoidance for Statistical Products," released in June. This order establishes new policies to protect the confidentiality of individuals and organizations when publishing statistics, utilizing differentially private noise infusion to add random "noise" to data.