Data Sources

U.S. Census Bureau’s Decennial Census of Population and Housing¹

The U.S. census is intended to count every resident in the United States. The data collection is mandated by Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution and takes place every 10 years. The data collected by the decennial census determines the number of seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives and is also used to distribute billions in federal funds to local communities. Rural Data Central includes census data from 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020.

Until 2010, recent censuses consisted of a “short form,” which included basic questions about age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, household relationship, and owner/renter status, and a “long form.” The long form was a sample of households and included not only the basic questions on the short form but also detailed questions about social, economic, and housing characteristics. The questions on the long form supplied data and information for a range of programs affecting education, veterans, employment, housing and community development, public health care, commuting, services for the elderly and disabled, and assistance programs for low-income families and children.²

1990 Census of Population and Housing
The 1990 decennial census counted the U.S. population at over 248.7 million. The short form (used for population counts and select demographic measures like race and age) contained 13 questions and the long form (used for all other demographic, social, economic, and housing characteristics) contained 45 questions.³

2000 Census of Population and Housing
The 2000 decennial census counted the U.S. population at over 281.4 million. The short form (used for population counts and select demographic measures like race and age) contained 7 questions and the long form (used for all other demographic, social, economic, and housing characteristics) contained 52 questions.

2010 Census of Population and Housing
The 2010 decennial census counted the U.S. population at over 308.7 million. Approximately 74 percent of U.S. households returned their census forms by mail; the remaining households were counted by census workers walking neighborhoods throughout the United States. National and state population totals from the 2010 Census were released on December 21, 2010. This was the first decennial census without a long form survey. The collection and estimation of detailed demographic, social, economic, and housing characteristics, previously achieved through the long form, were moved to the American Community Survey, which produces estimates annually.

2020 Census of Population and Housing
The 2020 decennial census counted the U.S. population at over 331.4 million. It marked the 24th census in U.S. history and the first time that households were invited to respond to the census online.⁴

U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) Five-Year Estimates⁵

The American Community Survey (ACS) is a nationwide survey designed to provide communities with reliable and timely demographic, social, economic, and housing data every year. The U.S. Census Bureau presents data from the ACS in the form of both single-year and five-year estimates. These estimates are fundamentally different from data presented through the decennial census or ACS’s predecessor, the decennial census “long form.”

In order to deliver more timely information for all the geographic areas served by the decennial long form, the Census Bureau designed the ACS as a sample survey using a continuous measurement approach to data collection. A sample of 3.5 million addresses is drawn from the Census Bureau’s master address file each year.⁶

ACS survey questionnaires are sent to approximately 295,000 addresses across the country every month⁷. Addresses from which a questionnaire is not returned by mail are followed up, first in an attempt to obtain the information by telephone, and then, for a sample of nonresponding households, in person by a Census Bureau field interviewer.

Based on responses from the series of 12 independent monthly samples each calendar year, the ACS provides estimates of demographic, housing, social, and economic characteristics for all states, as well as for cities, counties, metropolitan areas, and population groups of 65,000 or more. These estimates, based on a full year’s worth of collected ACS data, are called “one-year estimates.” For less populated areas, geographies with a population less than 65,000 people, it takes five years to accumulate enough survey data to achieve data estimates with a statistical reliability similar to those produced with the prior decennial census long-form.⁸ These “five-year estimates” are published for all census geographies each year. The five-year data represents the only estimates for small populations (less than 65,000) each year.⁹

A detailed description of ACS data collection methodology and the survey’s sample design may be found at: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/methodology/design-and-methodology.html.

For more information on using and interpreting ACS data please consult the Census Bureau Documentation: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/library/handbooks.html.

CFPB Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Data¹⁰

The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) was enacted by Congress in 1975 and is implemented by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Regulation C.¹¹ This regulation applies to certain financial institutions, including banks, savings associations, credit unions, and other mortgage lending institutions. In 2021, there were approximately 23.3 million loan records reported by 4,338 financial institutions.¹²

Using the loan data submitted by these financial institutions, the CFPB creates aggregate and disclosure reports for each metropolitan area (MA) that are available to the public at central data depositories located in each MA.

While HMDA data is a critical resource to understanding lending trends, the limitations of this data in rural areas must be acknowledged. Only depository institutions with assets of $50 million or more that operated a branch in a metropolitan area were required to report HMDA data in 2021.¹³ Consequently, an undetermined amount of rural lending data is unavailable, as many small, rural financial institutions are not required to report lending information. Despite these limitations, HMDA provides the best available information on rural lending. For detailed information about Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data used in this database please consult the following:

https://www.consumerfinance.gov/data-research/hmda/

https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_beginners-guide-accessing-using-hmda-data_guide_2022-06.pdf

https://ffiec.cfpb.gov/data-browser

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Local Area Unemployment Statistics¹⁴

The Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program is a federal-state cooperative effort in which monthly estimates of total employment and unemployment are prepared for over 7,500 geographies including nation, state, and county estimates. These estimates are key indicators of local economic conditions.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) makes these estimates (not seasonally adjusted) publicly available from 1990 to the present.¹⁵ The BLS is responsible for the concepts, definitions, technical procedures, validation, and publication of the estimates that state workforce agencies prepare under agreement with BLS.

The concepts and definitions underlying LAUS data come from the Current Population Survey (CPS), the household survey that is the source of the national unemployment rate. State monthly model-based estimates are controlled in “real time” to sum to national monthly employment and unemployment estimates from the CPS. These models combine current and historical data from the CPS, the Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey, and state unemployment insurance (UI) systems. Estimates for seven large areas and their respective balances of state also are model-based. Estimates for counties are produced through a building-block approach known as the "Handbook method." This procedure also uses data from several sources, including the CPS, the CES program, state UI systems, and the Census Bureau’s ACS, to create estimates that are adjusted to the statewide measures of employment and unemployment. Estimates for cities are prepared using disaggregation techniques based on inputs from the ACS, annual population estimates, and current UI data. The estimates presented in Rural Data Central are not seasonally adjusted.

For more information on the BLS county unemployment data see the following url: https://www.bls.gov/lau/.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Federally Assisted Housing Resources

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides information annually through the Picture of Subsidized Households for rental programs it administers. The U.S. government has subsidized housing for renters with low incomes since the Housing Act of 1937. All programs covered in this report offer subsidies to reduce rents. Households generally pay rent equal to 30 percent of their incomes, after deductions, and the federal government pays the rest. To enter the programs, people must have incomes below an income limit, which varies by household size and location. Data on households are sent by agencies and landlords to HUD and are summarized by HUD.¹⁶

Picture of Subsidized Households data presented in Rural Data Central covers the following HUD programs:

Housing Choice Vouchers¹⁷
This program is administered locally by public housing agencies (PHAs) and provides housing subsidies to landlords directly by the PHA on behalf of the participating family whose income may not exceed 50 percent of area median income (AMI). The family then pays the difference between the actual rent charged by the landlord and the amount subsidized by the program.

Project-Based Vouchers¹⁸
This program is a component of a public housing agency’s Housing Choice Voucher program. The PHA uses its tenant-based voucher funding to allocate units to a project. A PHA can use up to 20 percent of its authorized voucher units to project-base units in a specific project if the owner agrees to either rehabilitate or construct the units, or to set aside a portion of the units in an existing development.

Public Housing¹⁹
Public housing was established by the Housing Act of 1937 and is the federal government’s oldest subsidized rental housing program. HUD administers federal funds to local public housing agencies that manage and operate this government-owned housing. All public housing residents must have incomes at or below 80 percent of area median income and at least 40 percent of new admissions in any year must have incomes at or below 30 percent of area median income. Local public housing agencies can establish local preferences for certain populations, such as the elderly, persons with disabilities, veterans, full-time workers, domestic violence victims, or people who are homeless or at risk of being homeless. Rents for residents of public housing are restricted to the highest of 30 percent of their monthly adjusted income, 10 percent of their monthly gross income, their welfare shelter allowance, or a local public housing agency established minimum rent of up to $50.

Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly²⁰
This program provides capital advances to finance the construction, rehabilitation, or acquisition with or without rehabilitation of structures that will serve as supportive housing for very low-income elderly persons, including the frail elderly. It also provides rent subsidies for the projects to help make them affordable.

Section 236 Preservation²¹
This program combined federal mortgage insurance with interest reduction payments to the mortgagee for the production of low-cost rental housing. Owners were required to make units available to low- and moderate-income families (with incomes at or below 80 percent of the area median income) at HUD-approved rents for the term of their 40-year mortgage. Section 236 is no longer used, but some units that were originally produced with this subsidy continue to be subsidized by HUD.

Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities²²
This program provides funding to develop and subsidize rental housing with the availability of supportive services for very low- and extremely low-income adults with disabilities. The Section 811 program is authorized to operate in two ways: (1) by providing interest-free capital advances and operating subsidies to nonprofit developers of affordable housing for persons with disabilities; and (2) by providing project rental assistance to state housing agencies.

U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Federally Assisted Housing Resources

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Housing Service is an agency under USDA Rural Development. In FY 2021, USDA obligated 139,221 loans, loan guarantees, and grants totaling about $24.2 billion. Since the first USDA housing loan was made (around 1950), the agency has funded the construction, purchase, or repair of over 5.5 million rural housing units representing $384.1 billion.

The USDA Rural Development (RD) data presented in Rural Data Central derive from HAC tabulations of USDA Finance Office reports. Most of the data comes from the USDA Rural Development “Report Code (RC) 205 – Report of Loan and Grant Obligations, Vouchers, Allotments or Distributions.” The RC 205 report summarizes the number and dollar amount of the agency’s fund obligations by program and by State. Rural Data Central references sections of the report: RC 205 – H includes data on the USDA housing programs except for Rental Assistance, and RC 205 – F contains summarized Rental Assistance data. The loan and grant obligation data are based on the federal fiscal year (October 1-September 30) to date for each month. An “Allocation” is the distribution of congressionally appropriated funds to the states. Most of the single-family housing program funds are allocated to the states by a formula. Multifamily housing (MFH) program funds are not allocated. MFH funds are made available through a Notice of Fund Availability (NOFA) or a Notice of Solicitation of Applications (NOSA). An “Obligation” is a commitment of program funds to a specific loan or grant applicant.

Data presented in Rural Data Central cover the following USDA programs:²³

Multifamily Housing Preservation and Revitalization (MPR) Demonstration
This program supports the preservation of Section 515 and Section 514 off-farm properties as affordable housing as they age or near the end of their loan terms and affordability restrictions. The program provides RHS with preservation funding tools including debt deferral, subordinate or soft second loans, 0 percent loans, and grants to address an existing Section 515 or Section 514 project’s health and safety needs. Properties receiving this assistance agree to extended affordability periods.

Section 306 Water and Waste Disposal Grants²⁴
This program provides water and waste disposal facilities and services to low-income rural communities whose residents face significant health risks. Projects must be on federally recognized tribal lands, colonias or rural areas and towns with populations of 10,000 or less. Residents of the area to be served must face significant health risks due to a lack of access to or use of adequate, affordable water or waste disposal. Funds can support construction or modification of basic drinking water and waste disposal systems, including storm drainage, and extension of service lines and connection of individual residences to systems. Applicants can make grants directly to individuals to extend service lines and connect residents’ plumbing to systems, pay reasonable charges and fees for connecting to systems, and pay for installation of plumbing and related fixtures as well as bathrooms in homes.

Section 502 Single-Family Housing Direct Loan Program
USDA makes direct loans to very low- and low-income (incomes below 80 percent of AMI) individuals, who do not currently own adequate housing, to purchase homes to be used as primary residences. Loan funds can be used to buy, build, rehabilitate, improve, or relocate a home. The program provides mortgages with fixed interest rates to qualified borrowers who are unable to obtain credit elsewhere. Borrowers may qualify for payment subsidies that lower their monthly payments to the greater of (1) a principal, interest, tax, and insurance payment of no more than 24 percent of the borrower’s income or (2) a loan payment based on a 1 percent interest rate, plus taxes and insurance.

Section 502 Single-Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program
USDA guarantees loans made by approved private lenders to eligible low- and moderate-income (incomes below 115 percent of AMI) households to purchase homes to be used as principal residences. Loan funds can be used for costs of acquisition, repairs, or relocation of an existing home or construction of a new home.

Section 504 Very Low-Income Rural Housing Repair Loans and Grants
This program provides loans and grants to very low-income homeowners to make repairs or improvements to their properties. To qualify for a grant (rather than a loan), applicants must also be age 62 or older. Grant funds can only be used to remove health and safety hazards or to make properties accessible to household members with disabilities, while loan funds can also be used for more general repairs or improvements.

Section 509 Compensation for Construction Defects²⁵
This program provides compensation to individuals whose home was constructed or sited with a Section 502 direct loan and has construction defects. The program does not involve Section 502 guaranteed loans.

Sections 514 and 516 Farm Labor Housing Direct Loans and Grants
This is the only federal program to subsidize housing specifically for domestic farm laborers, including permanent, year-round, migrant, or seasonal farm laborers. Unlike other RHS programs, the funding for the farm labor housing programs may be used for housing development in non-rural areas, in order to house nearby agricultural labor. Section 514 loans may be used to buy, build, improve, or repair housing (including furnishings and related facilities) for farm laborers. Loans may be used for on-farm housing (i.e., loans taken out by owners of farms to build housing on their properties for their laborers), but the majority of Section 514 funds are used for off-farm housing (i.e., loans to organizations that build housing in a community for local farm laborers). Section 516 grants are awarded in conjunction with Section 514 loans to finance affordable, off-farm rental housing to low-income farm laborers. Farm labor housing properties may also receive rental assistance through the Section 521 program.

Section 515 Rural Multifamily Rental Housing Direct Loans
This program offers direct loans for the development of new, or rehabilitation of existing, rental housing for low-income individuals and families in rural areas. The properties developed with these loans often also receive rental assistance, commonly through the Section 521 Rental Assistance Program and in some cases through HUD’s Section 8 project-based rental assistance program. With rental assistance, tenants pay a maximum of 30 percent of their income toward rent and utilities; without assistance, tenants pay a “basic rent,” which is based on the amount needed to cover expenses in the project’s approved budget (including the Section 515 loan payment). RHS has not issued loans for the development of new units of Section 515 housing since FY2011; instead, all loan authority each year has been used to support the preservation of existing Section 515 properties, through either refinancing existing loans or facilitating purchases of existing properties by entities committed to preserving them as affordable housing

Section 523 Mutual and Self-Help Housing Grants
This program provides grants to eligible nonprofit or government organizations to provide technical assistance to groups of low- and very low-income households that work cooperatively to build their houses using the self-help method. The self-help method involves homebuyers contributing their own labor – sweat equity – to the construction of the home to reduce the costs of homeownership. Mutual self-help refers to groups of families working together to build each other’s homes. Homebuyers who participate in the mutual self-help programs supported by Section 523 grants often use Section 502 direct loans to purchase the homes, although other types of mortgages are also used.

Section 523 Self-Help Housing Land Development Loans
This program provides funds to eligible private and public nonprofit organizations to purchase and develop building sites for housing for participants in self-help housing programs. The nonprofit organizations resell these improved sites to program participants or eligible organizations at cost. The interest rate on the loans is 3 percent, and the nonprofit organizations repay the loans when they sell these properties.

Section 524 Site Development Loans
This program provides funds to eligible private and public nonprofit organizations to purchase and develop building sites for low- or moderate-income households more generally, not just self-help participants. The nonprofit organizations resell these improved sites to program participants or eligible organizations at cost. The interest rate on the loans is 3 percent, and the nonprofit organizations repay the loans when they sell these properties.

Section 525 Technical Assistance Grants²⁶
This program provides grants to eligible applicant organizations to conduct programs of technical and supervisory assistance for low-income rural residents to obtain and/or maintain occupancy of adequate housing.

Section 533 Housing Preservation Grants
This program provides funding to qualified entities to provide housing repair and rehabilitation assistance to very low- and low-income homeowners and to rental property owners whose tenants are very low- and low-income households. Eligible repair and rehabilitation activities include, but are not limited to, installing or repairing water and waste disposal systems, replacing a roof, repairing or replacing heating systems, energy conservation measures, alterations to provide greater accessibility for people with disabilities, and housing replacement activities (for homeowners only) under certain circumstances

Section 538 Multifamily Housing Guaranteed Loans
This program provides a federal guarantee for certain loans to finance the construction, acquisition, and rehabilitation of multifamily housing for low- to moderate-income residents. Borrowers of Section 538 guaranteed loans are restricted in the rents they can charge to tenants. Loans are commonly used to revitalize existing Section 515 properties; such use has accounted for approximately half of all loans in recent years.

Section 542 Rural Development Vouchers
This program, first funded in 2006, provides rental assistance vouchers to eligible tenants facing displacement from Section 515 properties that have exited the program (via prepayment or default) before their loan maturity date. Modeled after HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher program, the vouchers subsidize the difference between tenants’ rent contributions and the market rent for the area. A voucher can be used to allow the tenant to remain in the existing (formerly subsidized) property or to move to a different property selected by the tenant.

SFH and MFH Credit Sales²⁷
USDA offers Section 502 direct loan financing at non-program rates and terms to buyers purchasing USDA Real Estate Owned property. Loan terms range from 10 years for investors to a maximum of 30 years for public and private nonprofit organizations providing transitional housing or to purchasers intending to occupy a property. A down payment of 2 to 5 percent of the purchase price is waived for nonprofit organizations. Administrative price reductions may be taken over time to facilitate property sales.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Point-in-Time Count and Housing Inventory Count²⁸

HUD’s Point-in-Time (PIT) data provides a count of sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness, along with more detailed information on select demographic and social characteristics, on a single night in January. HUD requires that Continuums of Care conduct an annual count of people experiencing homelessness who are sheltered in emergency shelter, transitional housing, and safe havens on a single night. Continuums of Care also must conduct a count of unsheltered people experiencing homelessness every other year (odd numbered years). Each count is planned, coordinated, and carried out locally. The Housing Inventory Count (HIC) is a point-in-time inventory of provider programs within a Continuum of Care that provide beds and units dedicated to serve people experiencing homelessness (and, for permanent housing projects, where homeless at entry, per the HUD homeless definition), categorized by five program types: emergency shelter; transitional housing; rapid re-housing; safe haven; and permanent supportive housing.

NOTES

¹ “Decennial Census of Population and Housing,” U.S. Census Bureau, accessed August 14, 2022, https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html.

² “What We Do,” U.S. Census Bureau, accessed August 11, 2022, https://www.census.gov/about/what.html.

³ “1990 Overview,” U.S. Census Bureau, accessed August 16, 2022, https://www.census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/overview/1990.html.

⁴ “2020 Census,” U.S. Census Bureau, accessed August 19, 2022, https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/decade/2020/2020-census-main.html.

⁵ “American Community Survey Information Guide,” U.S. Census Bureau, 2017, https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/programs-surveys/acs/about/ACS_Information_Guide.pdf.

⁶ U.S. Census Bureau, Understanding and Using American Community Survey Data: What All Data Users Need to Know (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Publishing Office, 2020), https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2020/acs/acs_general_handbook_2020.pdf.

⁷ Ibid.

⁸ The following Federal Register notice notes the goal to produce ACS five-year estimates that are as reliable as those produced with the old decennial census long form: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2010/09/20/2010-23373/american-community-survey-5-year-data-product-plans.

⁹ Previously, as late as 2013, the American Community Survey included three-year estimates that covered all geographies with populations down to a 20,000 or greater threshold. This meant there were one-year estimates (geographies with populations 65,000 or greater), three-year estimates (geographies with populations of 20,000 or greater), and five-year estimates (all geographies). Since 2014, there are one-year and five-year products only. The following ACS website describes this: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/guidance/estimates.html.

¹⁰ “Home Mortgage Disclosure Act,” Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), accessed August 11, 2022, http://www.ffiec.gov/hmda/about.htm.

¹¹ In 2017, oversight and production of HMDA data shifted from the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

¹² “FFIEC Announces Availability of 2021 Data on Mortgage Lending,” Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), June 16, 2022, https://www.ffiec.gov/press/pr061622.htm.

¹³ The CFPB adjusts the HMDA asset reporting threshold for inflation every year. The following website notes the most recent threshold (2022): https://www.ncua.gov/regulation-supervision/letters-credit-unions-other-guidance/home-mortgage-disclosure-act-data-collection-requirements-calendar-year-2022. The following document explains the metropolitan area branch reporting threshold and also the annual 100 closed-end and 200 open-end loans requirement: https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_2022-hmda-institutional-coverage.pdf.

¹⁴ “Local Area Unemployment Statistics,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 20, 2020, https://www.bls.gov/lau/lauov.htm.

¹⁵ The BLS makes historical unemployment data publicly available at the following url: https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/.

¹⁶ “A Picture of Subsidized Households General Description of the Data and Bibliography,” HUD, accessed August 22, 2022, https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/assthsg/statedata98/descript.html.

¹⁷ “Housing Choice Vouchers Fact Sheet,” HUD, accessed August 26, 2022, https://www.hud.gov/topics/housing_choice_voucher_program_section_8.

¹⁸ “Project Based Vouchers,” HUD, accessed August 22, 2022, https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/public_indian_housing/programs/hcv/project.

¹⁹ “HUD Project-Based Rental Assistance,” National Housing Preservation Database, accessed August 24, 2022, https://preservationdatabase.org/documentation/program-descriptions/.

²⁰ “Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program,” HUD, accessed August 23, 2022, https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/housing/mfh/progdesc/eld202.

²¹ “HUD Project-Based Rental Assistance,” National Housing Preservation Database, accessed August 24, 2022, https://preservationdatabase.org/documentation/program-descriptions/.

²² “Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities,” HUD, accessed August 25, 2022, https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/housing/mfh/progdesc/disab811.

²³ Katie Jones and Maggie McCarty, “USDA Rural Housing Programs: An Overview” (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2022), https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R47044.

²⁴ “Section 306C Water and Waste Disposal Grants,” Environmental Protection Agency, September 3, 2021, https://www.epa.gov/tribal-lands/section-306c-water-and-waste-disposal-grants.

²⁵ “Eligibility for compensation for construction defects,” Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, Title 7, Section 1924.265, accessed August 17, 2022, https://ecfr.io/Title-7/Section-1924.265s.

²⁶ “Section 525 Technical and Supervisory Assistance,” Federal Grants, accessed August 26, 2022, https://www.federalgrants.com/Section-525-Technical-and-Supervisory-Assistance-10146.html.

²⁷ “2020 USDA Explanatory Notes [Regarding Budget Request] – USDA Rural Housing Service,” USDA, accessed August 17, 2022, https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/29rhs2020notes.pdf.

²⁸ “Point-in-Time Count and Housing Inventory Count,” HUD Exchange, accessed August 23, 2022, https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/hdx/pit-hic/.

²⁹ “Point-In-Time Count,” HUD, April 28, 2022, https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/comm_planning/coc/pit-count.