Overview

Introduction | Census Bureau RDC Program
California Census Research Data Center | Funding

Introduction
The California Census Research Data Center (CCRDC) is a partnership between the U.S. Bureau of the Census and the University of California.

Census Bureau RDC Program
The Center for Economic Studies (CES) of the U.S. Bureau of the Census has established Research Data Centers (RDCs) in order to provide secure physical locations for researchers to study non-public microdata collected by the Census Bureau. These microdata files contain data that cannot be released publicly because they contain detailed information on geographic location and/or other characteristics about the firms or households that could disclose their identities.

All proposals for research to be conducted at an RDC are reviewed for feasibility, scientific merit, benefit to the Census Bureau, and disclosure risks. All research output to be removed from the RDC is subject to rigorous disclosure analysis to prevent release of any confidential information. The Center for Economic Studies maintains RDCs in its headquarters near Washington, DC; in Boston at the Census Bureau's Boston Regional Office (operated in partnership with the National Bureau of Economic Research); and in Pittsburgh at the Heinz School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University (in partnership with CMU). Another RDC has been approved for the Research Triangle of North Carolina, to be located and operated in partnership with Duke University. More information about the Census Bureau's Research Data Center program and the can be found at the CES web site.

California Census Research Data Center
Until recently, the substantial community of public and private economists, policy analysts, and social scientists located on the West Coast have found it difficult to gain access to the confidential Census Bureau microdata available at the other RDCs, which are all located in the East. Without these data it is nearly impossible to conduct the increasingly sophisticated, detailed analyses and forecasting so important to California's future growth and development. Establishing the CCRDC goes a long way toward eliminating California's relative disadvantage in this arena.

In 1999, the University of California and the U.S. Census Bureau opened the CCRDC to increase access to non-public Census data for researchers in California, the other western states, and the nation. The CCRDC consists of two laboratories, one at UCLA and the other at UC Berkeley.

The CCRDC fosters applied research on a wide range of important economic, demographic, public policy, and basic research issues of significance to California and the nation, including: economic development and job growth; job location and transportation; poverty; welfare participation; pollution abatement; the assimilation of immigrant groups, etc.

Funding
There are substantial financial costs involved in opening and operating a Census Research Data Center. Fortunately, the CCRDC has obtained generous funding commitments that ensure its financial health for the first three years of operation. Initial funding and institutional support for the CCRDC is provided by the following organizations.

Core funding for the CCRDC is provided by:
The National Science Foundation
The National Institute on Aging
Welfare Policy Research Project of the California Policy Research Center

Additional funding for the UCLA site of the CCRDC is provided by:
The John E. Anderson School of Management
The UCLA School of Public Policy and Social Research
The UCLA Vice Chancellor for Research
Division of Social Science, College of Letters and Sciences, UCLA

Additional funding for the Berkeley site of the CCRDC is provided by:
The UC Berkeley Vice Chancellor for Research
The UC Berkeley Economics Department