The 2020 Decennial Census: Overview and Issues
Updated April 22, 2019
The 2020 Decennial Census: Overview and Issues
What the Census Is and How the Data
personal visits. NRFU long has been the most costly part of
Are Used
the census (about $2 billion in 2010). The public outreach
The census is a count, as nearly complete and accurate as
strategy for 2020 includes paid advertising in print and on
possible, of every person whose usual residence is in the
television, radio, and social media; and partnering with
United States. Article I, Section 2, clause 3 of the U.S.
outside organizations, especially those trusted by harder-to-
Constitution, as modified by Section 2 of the 14th
count population groups. The census also will feature a new
Amendment, requires a population census every 10 years,
internet response option, to make answering easier and
conducted “in such Manner as they [Congress] shall by
replace as much of the more expensive mail-out, mail-back
Law direct.” Congress, in Title 13, U.S. Code, has
census operation as possible. Those not able or willing to
delegated this responsibility to the Secretary of Commerce
respond online can provide their answers by calling
and, within the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), the
questionnaire assistance centers or can fill out paper forms.
Census Bureau. The first census took place in 1790; the
next will be in 2020. The constitutional reason for taking a
Administrative Records to Limit NRFU
census is to have an updated basis for apportioning seats in
Before NRFU begins, the bureau will use governmental
the U.S. House of Representatives. Census data also are
administrative records—for example, “Undeliverable-as-
used to redraw legislative boundaries within states; to
Addressed” information from USPS—to identify and
produce population estimates and projections; in formulas
remove the addresses of vacant housing units from the
that help allocate more than $675 billion in federal funds
NRFU workload. In addition, the bureau may use records—
annually to states and localities; and by subnational
such as those from the Internal Revenue Service, the
governments, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Indian
researchers for myriad purposes.
Health Service, and the Social Security Administration,
plus information the bureau already has and commercial
Engaging the Population
data—if feasible, to enumerate some occupied
The Census Bureau’s mission for 2020 is complicated. It
nonresponding households.
must cover a population that is large, tends to be mobile, is
distributed over a wide geographic area, and, in the words
Technology to Streamline Fieldwork
of a former bureau director, has more “diversity and
The bureau expects that address canvassers and NRFU field
complexity” than in past decades. The need to avoid census
staff will work remotely, using mobile devices for most
miscounts, such as overcounts of people with more than one
administrative tasks and data collection. Supervisors, too,
residence and undercounts of racial and ethnic minorities,
will use the devices for working and communicating with
makes the bureau’s public outreach efforts before and
staff remotely. This technology, according to the bureau,
during the census particularly important.
will greatly reduce the physical space and staff needed for
fieldwork, from 12 regional centers and almost 500 area
Innovations for 2020
offices for the 2010 census to six regional centers and just
Congress has directed the bureau to control the ever-rising
under 250 administrative support centers for 2020.
cost of the census, now estimated at about $15.6 billion for
2020. The bureau has responded with four innovations
Issues for 2020
designed to save money.
Funding Challenges
In-Office Address Canvassing
Heightened preparations for any census generally require
The Census Bureau’s goal is to have the correct address and
corresponding increases in appropriations. During the
geospatial location of every housing unit in the United
earlier “ramp up” to 2020, enacted funding was less than
States. Accurate addresses and maps are essential for
requested and was delayed. The FY2016 budget request for
contacting the public initially and during nonresponse
the census was $662.6 million; the enacted amount was
follow-up (NRFU). In the past, census workers had to walk
$598.9 million. The FY2017 request was $778.3 million;
and check about 11 million census blocks. For 2020, the
the Census Bureau’s approved spend plan allocated $767.3
bureau plans to replace roughly 70% of this field work
million to the census. In contrast, the FY2018 request for
(which cost almost $450 million for the 2010 census) with
the census was $800.2 million; the spend plan approved
in-office canvassing, using data from satellite imagery, the
$2,094.9 million. The amount for Periodic Censuses and
U.S. Postal Service (USPS), federal administrative records,
Programs (PCP), the account that includes the census, was
subnational governments, and third-party sources.
$2,545.4 million, available until September 30, 2020. For
FY2019, the census request was $3,015.1 million. H.J.Res.
Emphasis on Prompt Responses
31, P.L. 116-6, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019,
The bureau is emphasizing prompt responses in the initial
Division C, funds PCP at $3,551.4 million, with a transfer
phase of the census, to limit the need for later follow-up by
of $3.6 million from PCP to the DOC Office of Inspector
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The 2020 Decennial Census: Overview and Issues
General (OIG) for ongoing bureau oversight. The proposed
heightened anxiety about data confidentiality among certain
amount for the census in FY2020 includes $5,297.0 million
foreign-born respondents and reluctance to answer
in new budget authority, $1,020.0 million in prior-year
questions, particularly about citizenship status. Six former
funds, and about $100.0 million from the Enterprise Data
bureau directors, from both Republican and Democratic
Collection and Dissemination System, totaling about
administrations, signed a January 26, 2018, letter to
$6,400.0 million. Of the $5,885.4 million requested for
Secretary Ross, opposing the late-date introduction of an
PCP, $3.6 million is to be transferred to the DOC OIG for
untested citizenship question. Multiple lawsuits were filed
continuing bureau oversight.
to block the question; Judge Jesse Furman, U.S. District
Court for the Southern District of New York, ruled on July
Reduced Testing
26, 2018, that the consolidated suit State of New York et al.
Throughout each decade, the Census Bureau tests parts of
vs. U.S. Department of Commerce et al. could proceed. The
census operations and procedures to determine whether
U.S. Supreme Court will hear the case on April 23, 2019.
they will work as intended. Testing is considered essential
for a successful enumeration; however, funding delays and
Technology Challenges
shortfalls have truncated some 2020 census tests. In 2017,
According to GAO, the Census Bureau planned heavy
for example, the bureau tested new internet systems on a
reliance on new and existing IT systems and infrastructure
nationwide sample of about 80,000 housing units. The test
to support operations, first in the 2018 test, then in the
was to have included field operations in Puerto Rico, the
actual census. During the test, the bureau was to deploy 44
Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North and South
systems to support address canvassing; responses by
Dakota, and the Colville Indian Reservation and off-
internet, on paper, and by phone; field enumeration; and
reservation trust land in Washington. In late 2016, the
data tabulation and dissemination. By June 2018, 36 of the
bureau announced that it would not include these areas, due
44 systems for the test had been developed; development of
to uncertain FY2017 funding. Similarly, the 2018 census
the remaining 8 was progressing. As of August 2018, 11 of
test of all major 2020 census components—the bureau’s last
the systems were being developed or adapted as part of the
chance to identify and correct problems ahead of the
bureau’s new Census Enterprise Data Collection and
census—was to have covered more than 700,000 housing
Processing (CEDCaP) “system of systems.” CEDCaP will
units in Pierce County, Washington; Providence County,
provide, in the bureau’s words, “shared data collection and
Rhode Island; and nine West Virginia counties. Inadequate
processing across all censuses and surveys.” GAO’s
funding caused the bureau to test only address canvassing
February 2015 and February 2017 reports on “high-risk”
in all these areas; the full test, which concluded on March
programs, however, called CEDCaP “an IT investment in
29, 2019, was limited to Providence County.
need of attention.” The 2017 report added the 2020 census
itself to the high-risk list, where it remained in March 2019,
Citizenship Question
partly because of the bureau’s continuing problems and
The 1950 census was the last one to date that collected
delays in developing, testing, correcting, securing, and
citizenship information from the whole U.S. resident
managing IT systems. The March 2019 report, for example,
population. The 1960 census had no citizenship question
stated that by December 2018, the bureau “had identified
per se but queried a sample of respondents about birthplace.
nearly 1,100 system security weaknesses” requiring
From 1970 on, the Census Bureau asked a population
attention. The report noted the short time available for “the
sample about citizenship or naturalization status, first as
remaining system testing and security assessments,” with
part of the census, then in the American Community Survey
potentially increased “risk that deployed systems will either
(ACS). Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and his staff
not function as intended, have security vulnerabilities, or
reportedly asked the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) if it
both.”
would request the Census Bureau to collect citizenship data
in the 2020 census. DOJ made the request on December 12,
Temporary Workforce
2017. Secretary Ross announced on March 26, 2018, that
An additional challenge facing the Census Bureau as 2020
the 2020 census will ask the ACS question “Is this person a
approaches is the need for a large, diverse applicant pool
citizen of the United States?” The choice of ACS answers is
from which to hire qualified temporary workers, such as
“Yes, born in the United States”; “Yes, born in Puerto Rico,
address canvassers and NRFU enumerators. The bureau is
Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, or Northern Marianas”;
competing for talent in a tighter labor market than that
“Yes, born abroad of U.S. citizen parent or parents”; “Yes,
before and during the 2010 census. The unemployment rate
U.S. citizen by naturalization—Print year of
was 3.8% in March 2019, compared with 10.0% in October
naturalization”; or “No, not a U.S. citizen.” DOJ stated that
2009 and 9.3% to 9.8% throughout 2010, when the bureau
the census, not a survey with associated sampling error, “is
recruited about 3.9 million applicants. Especially for
the most appropriate vehicle for collecting” citizenship data
NRFU, the bureau needs workers proficient in English and
“critical to the Department’s enforcement of Section 2 of
other languages. Enumerators ideally will approximate the
the Voting Rights Act” and its “protections against racial
demographic makeup of the communities where they are
discrimination in voting.”
assigned, so that they can win respondents’ trust.
Opponents of the citizenship question have expressed
Jennifer D. Williams, Specialist in American National
concern that it may depress immigrants’ census response
Government
rates or cause them to falsify data, especially if their status
in the United States, or that of their friends or families, is
IF11015
illegal. Census Bureau fieldworkers in 2017 noted
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The 2020 Decennial Census: Overview and Issues
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