USA block-level census data for mass-download

Question

Quick version

Is there a way to mass-download block-level data from the USA Decennial Census besides just total population and housing?

Explanation

I know that some of the 2010 Census block-level data is available here in GDB format, but that data set only contains total population and total household units.

I also know that the full data set for the American Community Survey (ACS) for 2010 is available here in GDB format. But note that the smallest/finest level of geographic aggregation available is Block Group, not Block.

Lastly, I found that you can download block-level data tables one-by-one on the Census Data portal, clicking on the "Filter" button and selecting Geography -> Block -> State -> All Blocks within State in the "Browse Filters" section that pops up. This will filter the tables on the left-hand side to only contain tables related to block-level data (see screenshot below). The problem is that, in order to download a set of data, I need to select each data table one-by-one from the left-hand panel and wait a significant amount of time for the server to "prepare" the data. If I just want to download all the available block-level data for a given state, this quickly becomes a very tedious and time-consuming process.

Is the block-level census data available somewhere for mass-download instead of having to download one table at a time from the Census Data portal?

I believe the old "Fact Finder" portal allowed you to download multiple data tables at once, but that tool has been sadly decommissioned. This is only tangentially related, but it was still worth mentioning.

This question was originally asked on the GIS Stack Exchange and is now copied here.

Answer 1

If you need every single table for all blocks in a state, the simplest approach to get them in bulk is to use the FTP site:

https://www2.census.gov/

For documentation on how the files are constructed and how to load them, there is some documentation coupled with each data file, or you can consult the specific program website. There are distinct pages for each series - redistricting files, data profiles, summary file 1, and summary file 2, etc. For example, here's info for 2010 summary file 1:

https://www.census.gov/data/datasets/2010/dec/summary-file-1.html

And this is the info for the recently released public redistricting data for the 2020 census:

https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/about/rdo/summary-files.html

The state-level files contain data for every piece of geography in the state. The data is split across several CSV files (called segments), and there is one geo header file that contains details about the geographies. The LOGRECNO is the unique ID for relating geographies across the tables. There are some table shells for loading the data into stats packages or a relational db.

The national-level file only contains geographies that do not nest within states (states, metro areas, regions, divisions, etc).