census

library0.8.27pypypi✓ verified 85d ago

A Python wrapper for the US Census Bureau's API, providing simple access to ACS, Decennial Census, and other datasets. Current version 0.8.26, with yearly updates for new data years.

data

pip install census

github ↗package ↗

INSTALL

IMPORT

SIG · CENSUS

census

datapythonv0.8.27

Install

2.3s avg

Import

110ms

Disk

19MB

Pass rate

10/ 10

Env Coverage10 / 10

glibc

3.9–3.13

musl

3.9–3.13

Install & Compatibility

Where this runs

tested against v0.8.27 · pip install

no network on importno background threads

Install × environment matrix

Each cell = how many times install + import succeeded across repeated harness runs. Partial = flaky.
glibc = Debian/Ubuntu slim · musl = Alpine Linux

musl

py 3.10–3.95 runs

installs and imports cleanly · install 0.0s · import 0.112s · 21.1MB

glibc

py 3.10–3.95 runs

installs and imports cleanly · install 2.3s · import 0.108s · 22MB

19MB installed

● package 19MB

Code

Verified usage

Verified import paths — ran on the pinned version, not inferred.

Census

✓ from census import Census

✗ import census

Census is a class; direct import of module does not provide class.

Initialize with API key, then call endpoint methods (e.g., acs5.state) with variables and location.

from census import Census # Get your API key from https://api.census.gov/data/key_signup.html api_key = os.environ.get('CENSUS_API_KEY', '') c = Census(api_key) # Fetch ACS5 2023 data for a state result = c.acs5.state(('NAME', 'B01001_001E'), 'Illinois') print(result)

Debug

Known issues

gotchaVariable names come from Census API, not library; ensure you use valid codes (e.g., 'B01001_001E').

fix

Check Census API documentation for available variables per dataset and year.

affects: all

deprecatedSupport for ACS 1-year estimates may be dropped in future; always specify year to avoid surprises.

fix

Explicitly pass year parameter to ACS methods (e.g., .acs5.state(..., year=2023)).

affects: >=0.8.19

Errors

Common errors & fixes

NoAuthHandlerError: No API key provided

Missing or empty API key string passed to Census constructor.

fix

Set your Census API key before creating instance: c = Census('your_key_here')

census.core.CensusUnavailable: 400 Client Error: Bad Request for url

Invalid variable code, year, or geography specification.

fix

Verify variable codes and geography parameters (e.g., state FIPS code) via Census API documentation.

Upgrade

Version history

0.8.27latest on PyPI · released May 15, 2026

Audit

Dependencies

requestsrequiredHTTP calls to Census API

usoptionalFIPS code validation

Agent activity

15 hits · last 30 days

node

OpenAI (training)

Resources

githubhttp://github.com/datamade/census ↗

packagehttps://pypi.org/project/census/ ↗