When the Census Bureau’s count of the population is inaccurate, it affects representation and government spending. Correcting errors isn’t always allowed.
Many Americans need election materials provided in languages other than English.
AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
Circe Sturm, The University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts
They’re called ‘pretendians’ – people who long identified as white but are now claiming to be Native American. In the last US Census, the number of Native Americans almost doubled because of them.
This electromechanical machine, used in the 1890 U.S. census, was the first automated data processing system.
Niall Kennedy/Flickr
As the country grew, each census required greater effort than the last. That problem led to the invention of the punched card – and the birth of an industry.
The banks of the Hackensack River near an opportunity zone in Jersey City, N.J.
(AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
U.S. opportunity zones can positively impact real estate development and help local communities. But to fully realize the program’s potential, it needs reform.
In ancient Athens, most government officials were selected at random from among citizens eligible to fill the positions.
Philipp Foltz
To overhaul an election redistricting process tainted by gerrymandering, Michigan has adopted a governance mechanism prominent 2,500 years ago in ancient Athens, the birthplace of democracy.
Community groups, like this one in Phoenix, have been working to get people of color to contribute their information to the census.
AP Photo/Terry Tang
The census will likely count fewer Black Americans, Indigenous peoples, Asian Americans and Americans of Hispanic or Latino origin than there actually are.
Emily Klancher Merchant, a historian of science and technology at the University of California at Davis, shares some of the most interesting stories behind the 2020 census questionnaire
A Seattle man wearing a mask walks past posters encouraging participation in the 2020 Census.
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
It’s important to strike a balance between protecting Americans’ privacy and having accurate statistics for governments and businesses to make data-based decisions.
Francis William Edmonds’ ‘Taking the Census,’ from 1854.
Heritage Art/Heritage Images/Getty Images
Rebecca Tippett, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The 2020 census will now count some groups differently than it has in the past. That could make a difference in the final count – affecting which states receive funding and congressional seats.
Fears of the census may have informed the Bureau’s 2020 tagline.
U.S. Census Bureau
In the US, poverty is measured by income level. But that measure misses many other aspects of poverty – like unemployment, poor health and a lack of health insurance.
The U.S. Census struggles to accurately count the number of children under 5.
Syda Productions/shutterstock.com
In 2010, approximately 1 million children under the age of 5 were not counted in the census. That meant less state funding for critical services like Early Head Start and SNAP.
Citizenship may be included in the next census questionnaire.
Maria Dryfhout/shutterstock.com
For the first time in decades, the 2020 census will include a question asking whether or not each counted person is a citizen. On April 23, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on this idea.