CGC's Census — commonly called the "pop report" — is a publicly available database of every comic CGC has ever graded, broken down by issue and grade. It tells you exactly how many copies of a given book exist at each grade level. For high-grade slabs, the pop report is the single most important pricing input after the book itself.
WHAT THE NUMBERS MEAN
Each row in the census is a grade bucket (9.8, 9.6, 9.4, etc.) with a count of how many copies have been graded at that level. A pop of 3 at 9.8 means CGC has only encapsulated three copies of that issue at 9.8 — ever. It doesn't mean only three exist in the wild; unsubmitted copies aren't counted. But for pricing purposes, the census is the best proxy for supply at each grade.
LOW POP ≠ AUTOMATICALLY VALUABLE
A book with a pop of 1 at 9.8 is rare at that grade. It's not necessarily expensive. Demand matters as much as supply. A low-demand book with a pop of 1 at 9.8 might sell for less than a high-demand book with a pop of 50 at the same grade. The pop report tells you supply; you still need to evaluate demand independently — first appearances, movie/TV catalysts, and long-term collector interest.
HOW TO USE IT WHEN BUYING
- Check the grade distribution. If 200 copies exist at 9.6 but only 4 at 9.8, the jump from 9.6 to 9.8 commands a steep premium. That's scarcity you can verify.
- Watch for pop increases. If a book had a pop of 5 at 9.8 last year and now has 12, supply doubled. Prices should soften — and often lag the census update by months. That lag is an opportunity to sell or a warning not to buy.
- Compare to total graded. A pop of 3 at 9.8 out of 50 total graded is different from a pop of 3 at 9.8 out of 5,000. The second means the book is readily available at lower grades — the 9.8 premium is purely about condition scarcity, not book scarcity.