The U.S. Census Bureau Begins Decennial Population Count

 

[March 14, 2020] 

This week the United States Census Bureau is mailing a form to every household and apartment in the nation, part of the constitutionally directed effort to take a decennial census of the people that live in the United States.

The U.S. Constitution mandates a county of everyone, both citizens and non-citizens. The first United States census in 1790 estimated the country’s population at just over 3.9 million. The most recent census in 2010 showed 308.7 million residents, a 9.7% increase from a decade earlier in 2000.

This year, the census will consist of a 9-question form asking basic questions, including name, gender, age, date of birth, race, ethnicity, relationship, and home ownership. The form asks for a count of all who live at their “usual residence” as of April 1, 2020. Usual residence has been defined as the place where a person lives and sleeps most of the time. The Census is mandated by the Constitution to count everyone living in the United States on April 1, regardless of their citizenship or immigration status. Even people living in a given area temporarily, if counted on the census form, are counted in the population count of that area.

The form is available in six languages. By law, the Census Bureau cannot share respondents’ answers with anyone, including other federal agencies and law enforcement entities.

While its purpose is to take an enumeration, the data collected from the forms is used by all levels of government to determine many other things. First, population of a state, and areas within each state, determine representation in the House of Representatives. Thus, how many seats each state will have in Congress, and how those congressional district boundaries are redrawn after the next election, will be guided by census figures.

A great amount of government funding for programs is based on census statistics. Federal dollars are distributed based on the population count for services including school lunch and Head Start programs, education, transportation, health care and job training. Census results are also used to compile statistical information for use in such decision-making as planning future locations of schools and fire and police departments, new roads, hospitals, child-care and senior centers — even where to locate supermarkets, new housing, businesses and other facilities.

Accurate census counts help communities get their fair share of more than $875 billion in federal funding each year. CAPCIL (Community Action Partnership of Central Illinois) estimates that for every person not counted in our community, Lincoln and Logan County will lose $1,400 a year for the next 10 years in critical programs which help our residents. The state of Illinois and the county of Logan are both projected to lose population after this year’s census results.

By federal law, every household in the United States must participate in the 2020 census. Census workers will visit households that do not return forms to take a count in person.

Many communities have set up centers to enable residents who do not have technology access to complete the form online. The U.S. Farm Bureau in Lincoln and the Lincoln Public Library both have computer stations.

The city of Lincoln and the county of Logan have jointly established a Complete Count Committee who is charged with the mission to encourage participation in this year’s census. They encourage all residents to participate and say, “I count.” For more information on the U.S. Census, visit www.2020 census.gov. 

[Complete Count Committee of Lincoln and Logan County]