The U.S. Census

Article 1, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution mandates that every ten years, the people living in the U.S. are counted. At its core, the Census is a nationwide headcount- how many people live in the country, and where do they generally live? The consequences of the headcount, however, are pretty important for our communities and how they function decade-to-decade. 

The counting of the country’s population occurs only once every decade through the census, so the counts accumulated this year will impact our communities until 2030 regardless of how your communities grow, shrink, or otherwise change in the next 10 years. Check out the U.S. Census Bureau's "Census 101" resource here.

College communities like ours are typically at risk of being undercounted, because students are often renters and might view their “home” as someplace other than where they are living at that moment in time. The Census is NOT based on your permanent address or the address of whoever might be able to claim you as a dependent on their taxes. It is based on the address where you were living/staying on Census Day, April 1, 2020.

By law, your Census reporting cannot be used against you by any government agency of court. You can read more about census confidentiality here.

Video: The Census is About Power and Money

The Census counts everyone living in the United States on April 1, 2020 regardless of citizenship or immigration status, or any other characteristic. This is backed up by the Constitution, the 14th Amendment, and multiple court rulings.

Yes! If you're living in the U.S. on Census Day, you should be counted in the Census.

There should be one Census respondent per home. That person must be at least 15 years old, live in the residence themselves, and know general information about each person living there.

There should be one Census respondent per home. That person must be at least 15 years old, live in the residence themselves, and know general information about each person living there.

There are 12 questions on the Census. The questions are used to gather information about the residence (house or apartment, owned or rented, etc.), who lives there and how they're connected to each other (family, roommates, etc.). That's it!

Visit 2020census.gov/en/about-questions.html to read each question on the Census and an explanation from the Census Bureau about why they ask it. 

Because the Census counts people "where they live, eat, and sleep most of the time," college students should be counted in their college communities. Students are a major part of the community population in any college town. Just like non-student community members, students use public resources, frequent local businesses, and more-- all things impacted by Census data one way or another. To learn more about how the Census Bureau has worked to count college students in their correct community, click here.

There are a number of potential barriers to participation in the Census, including mistrust of how the data will be used, translation issues, and more.

On July 27, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that the citizenship question will not be included in the 2020 Census. That information will not be collected. It’s also illegal for anyone but the Census Bureau to use your information of share your personal census response. Not even the Census Bureau can share the information with a government entity until 72 years have passed—that means that the detailed 2020 Census data cannot be shared with any government groups until 2092. This language is all in Title 13 of U.S. Legal Code.

It is possible to complete the Census in languages other than English! In addition to 12 languages online and by phone and both English and Spanish mail versions, there are 60 language guides available—check out the languages supported by those guides here.

The U.S. Census Bureau is working hard to dispel rumors and points of concern about completing the Census- click here to read through their “rumor FAQs.”

Apportionment is the process of dividing the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives among the 50 states based on population counts from the Census. Based on the population data collected in the Census, the method of equal proportions is used to calculats the new congressional apportionment. In 2010, the average number of people represented by a single Representative in the House was 710,767.

The KU Institute for Policy and Social Research has put together useful infographics about the impact of the Census on four different funding areas: Rural Programs, Healthcare, K-12 Education, and Higher Education. Each sector receives funding based on Census population data, so a complete count is important for each area to receive the funding it needs to function- check out the infographics for more details!

The first time the residents of the United States were systematically counted through the Census was in 1790.

No! Census Day had taken place in a bunch of different months until 1930, when April 1 was designated at the consistent Census Day.

If you’re into family history and genealogical research, you’ve probably interacted with Census data that has been released from at least 72 years ago.