A growing number of U.S. states are adopting policies to collect detailed demographic data beyond the federal government’s standard five racial and two ethnic categories, according to a recent report by the Leadership Conference Education Fund. The move aims to better identify and address disparities in access to services like education, housing, and healthcare among marginalized groups.
Connecticut, Oregon, Massachusetts, and Washington now mandate disaggregated data collection across all federal categories, while only five states – Connecticut, Illinois, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington – include a Middle Eastern/North African (MENA) category. In 2023, lawmakers in Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Nevada passed laws to collect more granular race and ethnicity data.
Meeta Anand, senior director of census and data equity at the Leadership Conference Education Fund, emphasized that accurate documentation of this data at the state level can help address differences in access, enrollment, and experiences of social service recipients, potentially saving lives.
The federal Office of Management and Budget’s 1977 Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 established the minimum set of categories for race and ethnicity data collection. While state and local health departments use these categories as a default, they have the authority to collect data on additional subgroups, provided the data can be aggregated into the standard categories when shared with the federal government.
As more states recognize the importance of detailed demographic data in identifying and addressing health disparities, the push for comprehensive and accurate data collection gains momentum, paving the way for more targeted and effective interventions to support underrepresented communities.
See “More states are pushing for race and ethnicity data equity” (January 12, 2024)
