Census Bureau

Flowchart depicting a relay race between three cats.

COMIC: How Your State Gets Power Via The Census (And What Trump Wants To Change)

1:59pm December 31, 2020

A little-known process determines your state's representation in Congress and the Electoral College. Trump wants to try to change it by excluding unauthorized immigrants for the first time in history.

Protesters carrying signs about the census gather outside the U.S. Supreme Court in 2019. Immigrant rights advocates have vowed to continue fighting President Trump's proposal.

National

Supreme Court Punts Census Case, Giving Trump An Iffy Chance To Alter Numbers

6:23am December 19, 2020

The opinion said the case was "riddled with contingencies and speculation" that impede judicial review. The president has sought to use a census count that does not include undocumented immigrants.

Queue Listen Now

Chris Worrell jokes with Teresa Jefferson while applying for a 2020 census job in Boston in February before the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on government records, the Census Bureau estimates the U.S. population has grown by as much as 8.7% since 2010.

Census Estimates U.S. Population As High As 336 Million Ahead Of Actual Count

5:33pm December 15, 2020

by Hansi Lo Wang

The Census Bureau has yet to release the 2020 census results, which are undergoing quality checks. Based on government records, it estimates the population has grown by as much as 8.7% since 2010.

Signs promoting the 2020 census hang on a fence in Reading, Pa., in September. The Census Bureau has found irregularities in this year's census responses that could affect the counting of millions of people.

Millions Of Census Records May Be Flawed, Jeopardizing Trump's Bid To Alter Count

5:40pm December 05, 2020

by Hansi Lo Wang

The number of 2020 census records requiring quality checks because of irregularities has ballooned into the millions. That may stop Trump from getting control of a key count before leaving office.

Leaked documents show there's a possibility that the Census Bureau will not be able to produce numbers for congressional apportionment in time for President Trump to exclude unauthorized immigrants from the count before leaving office.

Leaked Files Show Trump's Ability To Alter Census May Come Down To The Wire

10:42pm December 02, 2020

by Hansi Lo Wang

The Census Bureau may not be able to finish putting together a key census count before President Trump's term ends, internal documents obtained by the House Oversight Committee confirm.

D.C. Circuit Judge Gregory Katsas joined another Trump-appointed federal judge in voting to dismiss a Washington, D.C.-based lawsuit over President Trump's efforts to omit unauthorized immigrants from the census numbers that set up the next Electoral Coll

Federal Court Rejects Challenge To Trump's Push To Alter A Key Census Count

1:05am November 26, 2020

by Hansi Lo Wang

In a 2-1 vote, the court tossed out a lawsuit, one of several working through the courts, that challenged a memo on excluding unauthorized immigrants from numbers that reset the Electoral College map.

A Joe Biden supporter holds up a phone displaying the Electoral College map in Philadelphia on Nov. 7.

Census 'Anomalies' Could Thwart Trump's Bid To Alter Next Electoral College

8:27pm November 19, 2020

by Hansi Lo Wang

The Census Bureau has found routine irregularities in the 2020 census that require more quality checks and determined it cannot deliver a key set of numbers to President Trump before his term ends.

President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are expected to revive policy proposals that could change how LGBTQ people and people with roots in the Middle East or North Africa can identify themselves for the next U.S. census.

Biden Wants Census To See 'Invisible' Groups: LGBTQ, Middle Eastern, North African

5:01am November 14, 2020

by Hansi Lo Wang

The Biden-Harris administration is poised to revive proposals that could change how LGBTQ people and people with roots in the Middle East or North Africa can identify themselves for the next census.

The 2020 census has been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, historic hurricane and wildfire seasons, last-minute schedule changes, and President Trump's call to leave unauthorized immigrants out of a key census count.

Can President-Elect Biden Redo The 2020 Census? It's Complicated

10:07am November 12, 2020

by Hansi Lo Wang

Concerns about the accuracy of the census after Trump officials cut the count short have led to calls for a do-over. But the proposal comes with major legal, financial and logistical complications.

Some major final steps for the 2020 census are set to take place during the transition from President Trump to President-elect Joe Biden, who both appear above on a smartphone displaying the final presidential debate in October.

The Census Is Not Over: What's Ahead During The Biden Transition

7:54pm November 11, 2020

by Hansi Lo Wang

The legal fight continues over whether President Trump can alter numbers that set up the next Electoral College map, and there's a question of whether Congress will give more time for quality checks.