The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

In this report:

Table of Contents

1. Overview
2. The Importance of the Census
3. Census Accuracy: The Undercount (and Overcount)
4. Census 2010: Key Operations and Milestones; How You Can Get Involved
   1. Overview of the census plan
   2. What you need to know
   3. How you can help
5. Additional Information
   1. Frequently asked questions
   2. Facts and figures
   3. Census history

Facts & Figures

• The first U.S. census occurred in 1790, when U.S. Marshals rode out on horseback to count the populations of the 13 new states of the United States.
• The U.S. Constitution (Article 1, Sec 2) requires a census every 10 years for the purpose of reapportioning seats in Congress among the states.
• Since the U.S. Supreme Court's historic one person, one vote ruling in Baker v. Carr in 1962, census data have also been used for redrawing the boundaries of legislative districts to seek equal population in each one.
• Census data determine the allocation of nearly $400 billion in federal program funds every year.
• The 2000 Census contained as many as 33.1 million miscounts.
  • Over 17 million people were counted twice;
  • Almost 16 million people were missed – mostly poor people and minorities.
• The 2000 census resulted in an estimated net national overcount of about one-half of a percent. However, non-Hispanic whites had an overcount of about one percent, while all other race groups and Hispanics were undercounted, a gap known as the “differential undercount.”
• The 2000 census cost $6.5 billion. The single largest expense is paying enumerators to follow up with non-responding households. The 2010 count will cost almost $15 billion.
• In 2010, the standard census form will be the shortest it has been in 190 years – it will be a short-form only census asking for name, sex, age, date of birth, ethnicity, race, relationship, and housing tenure. The 1990 “short form” asked nearly twice as many questions.
• While the percentage of households responding by mail has been dropping steadily, the response rate in the 2000 census improved by 2 points. In 1970, the response rate was 78 percent; in 1980, 75 percent; and in 1990, 65 percent. In 2000, the response rate was 67 percent.
• The most expensive part of the census is visiting households that do not mail back their forms. The 2000 census cost an average of $57 per household, compared to $25 in 1990, and $11 in 1970, in constant 2000 dollars.
• The Census Bureau will deliver or mail census questionnaires to most households in March 2010. Some households will receive a replacement questionnaire; the second questionnaires are targeted to harder-to-count communities. From April to June, census takers will call or visit the households that still have not responded to the mailings. (Census workers can be identified by a census bag and badge.) Non-English speakers can also request forms in five other languages.
• The Census Bureau plans to spend more than $400 million promoting and advertising the 2010 census, and will also field a quality control check, re-examining households in a detailed, face-to-face survey. The Bureau plans to focus its outreach and advertising efforts to increase participation levels among traditionally undercounted groups, including minorities and immigrants in both urban and rural areas.
• The decennial census is the largest peacetime mobilization of American resources and personnel. For the 2010 census, the Census Bureau has 12,000 permanent employees and will hire around 1.4 million temporary workers.

Next Section: Census history