Reporting Stories with Census Data

As part of the Census Bureau The Opportunity Project 2021 Data Sprint, Columbia Journalism School worked on three different projects. Each one originated from or was deeply rooted in Census data. While our articles are still in progress, this is a summary of how each team used Census data in their reporting process.


This team examined prison populations in Arizona, Florida and New York.

This reporting project is a series of investigative stories based on the data collected in the 2020 census. Read about the story of a prior inmate, a prior prison employee and learn about the prison transfer systems in the U.S. and the data behind them. This project also focuses on the effects of redistricting and transfers on families and communities surrounding prisons.

The team has reached out to outlets such as the Marshall Project and the Prison Policy Initiative in hopes of publishing through them.

This team used Census data to identify a decline in the Asian population in Manhattan's Chinatown.

This reporting project focuses on the declining Asian population in Manhattan’s Chinatown. We identified this change using data from the decennial census and American Community Survey, and subsequently have been reporting to characterize some of the reasons for this movement.

The team will be pitching this article to local New York City publications, as well as publications focused on Asian American communities.