The next release of detailed data about U.S. residents from the 2020 census will be postponed until next year because the U.S. Census Bureau said Wednesday that it needs more time to crunch the numbers, including implementing a controversial method used to protect participants’ identities.

The delays leave government budget-makers, city planners and researchers in a lurch because the detailed data are used for planning future growth, locating schools or firehouses and research.

NOTE: Today's announcement has nothing to do with the release of residents' names, ages, addresses, and other personal information. By law, that information will not be released for 72 years (in 2092). Instead, today's announcement refers only to such items as American Housing Survey Table Creator, Business Dynamics Statistics (BDS) Explorer, Census COVID-19 Data Hub, Census Flows Mapper, Data Equity Tools, and similar aggregate information.