Census Bureau

Ukrainian refugees enter the El Chaparral border crossing between Tijuana, Mexico, and San Diego in April 2022. The foreign-born share of the U.S. population, which had been roughly flat since 2017, rose to nearly 14% last year.

National

The immigrant population in the U.S. is climbing again, setting a record last year

5:45am September 14, 2023

by Joel Rose

Census Bureau data show the number of foreign-born people rose by nearly a million in 2022 after years of little growth. Experts say the increase coincides with a gradual reboot of legal immigration.

Queue Listen Now

A swing sits empty on a playground outside in Providence, R.I. Experts say the end of the expanded child tax credit was a key factor in the big rise in child poverty.

National

Child poverty more than doubles — a year after hitting record low, Census data shows

4:58pm September 12, 2023

by Jennifer Ludden

Experts point to the expanded child tax credit as key to this poverty yo-yo. When it ended, many lower-income families struggled to pay their bills or buy enough food.

Queue Listen Now

Balloons decorate a 2019 event leading up to the 2020 census in Boston. The U.S. House has passed a bill that could help protect the 2030 census and other future counts from political interference.

Politics & Government

A bill to block census interference passed the House. Its Senate path is unclear

10:50pm September 15, 2022

by Hansi Lo Wang

The U.S. House has passed a bill that could help protect the 2030 census and other future head counts from political interference. But it's not clear how much support the bill has in the Senate.

Demonstrators hold signs saying "Count Me In" outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., in 2019, when the court blocked former President Donald Trump's administration from adding a citizenship question to 2020 census forms.

What to know about the accuracy of the 2020 census — and why it matters for you

12:16pm March 09, 2022

by Hansi Lo Wang

COVID-19 and interference by former President Donald Trump's administration have made it harder to pinpoint the accuracy of the numbers used to redistribute political representation and federal money.

U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Santos began serving as the first Latino to head the federal government's largest statistical agency in January.

National

U.S. census director says the bureau needs to reduce chances of meddling after Trump

8:54pm February 21, 2022

by Hansi Lo Wang

Newly sworn-in Census Bureau Director Robert Santos told NPR it's important to make sure there are policies in place to better protect the agency from any future political interference.

Federal government standards require the U.S. census to count people with roots in the Middle East or North Africa as white. But a new study finds many people of MENA descent do not see themselves as white, and neither do many white people.

National

The U.S. census sees Middle Eastern and North African people as white. Many don't

9:56am February 17, 2022

by Hansi Lo Wang

People with Middle Eastern or North African roots must be counted as white in the federal government's data. But a study finds many do not see themselves as white, and neither do many white people.

People conceal parts of their faces with forms for the 2010 count in Puerto Rico in a U.S. Census Bureau poster about how it keeps information confidential. Records for the once-a-decade tally cannot be released until 72 years after a count's Census Day.

National

The U.S. census's 72-year confidentiality rule has a strange history

1:59pm February 04, 2022

Under federal law, the U.S. government must restrict access to people's records for the once-a-decade tally until 72 years after a count's Census Day. The exact origins of that time span are murky.

A newly released Census Bureau email written during former President Donald Trump's administration — when Wilbur Ross, shown at a 2020 congressional hearing in Washington, D.C., served as the commerce secretary overseeing the census — details how offi

Trump officials interfered with the 2020 census beyond cutting it short, email shows

6:51pm January 15, 2022

by Hansi Lo Wang

The email details the scope of the former administration's attempts to tamper with the count, including pressuring the Census Bureau to alter plans for protecting privacy and producing accurate data.

A chart showing that people of color are underrepresented as a whole at the top rank of the Census Bureau's career civil servants.

The federal agency that measures racial diversity is led mostly by white people

6:37am December 14, 2021

by Hansi Lo Wang

While the Census Bureau's set to have its first director who's Latinx, an NPR analysis finds people of color are underrepresented in the top rank of civil servants at the country's main data producer.

After former President Donald Trump signed a presidential memo in August 2020, the U.S. Census Bureau was directed to stop collecting payroll taxes from certain employees in the final months of last year. The bureau is now trying to get some former tempor

National

Trump left a $7 million mess after delaying census workers' payroll taxes

9:46pm November 05, 2021

by Hansi Lo Wang

The Trump administration directed many federal agencies to stop collecting payroll taxes last year. The Census Bureau is now trying to get former temporary workers to pay what they owe.