Participate in Census 2020
Census Day is April 1, 2020
By April 1, 2020, most homes will receive an invitation to participate in the 2020 Census. You have three options for responding:
The US Census Bureau will begin mailing invitations to homes soon inviting people to respond to the 2020 Census on-line.
This option, as well as the telephone response option, will open in mid-March and will remain open until the door-to-door follow-up operations are completed late Summer 2020.
Ways to Respond - begins mid- March
Explore the Form - view the simple questionnaire
How Are College Students Counted?
Count college students where they live while attending school.
If they live on campus in university/college housing such as dorms or fraternity/sorority houses, they will be counted by school officials and do not need to respond. However, if they live off campus in private housing or apartments, they should respond to the census on their own using their off-campus address even if they are currently staying elsewhere.
I have two (2) homes and live in both, during the year, how do I respond to Census 2020?
PEOPLE WHO LIVE OR STAY IN MORE THAN ONE PLACE
People living away most of the time while working, such as people who live at a residence close to where they work and return regularly to another residence
- Counted at the residence where they live and sleep most of the time. If they cannot determine a place where they live most of the time, they are counted where they are staying on Census Day. People with multiple homes should fill out a census for each. Count people at the address where you live and sleep most of the time and report the second address as vacant.
Residence Criteria and Residence Situations for the 2020 Census of the United States
Who to Count Residence Criteria Information
Who to Count - take the quiz!
What does the Invitation to Respond envelope look like?
See visuals of our Census 2020 mailings here:
https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-kits/2020/2020-census-mailings.html
Can I answer the questionnaire without the code in the Invitation to Respond?
Yes! Visit my2020census.gov to complete the questionnaire with or without a code.
Will my geographic area receive the paper form first or only the invitation to respond?
Take a look at the Mail Contact Strategies Viewer -- if your Census Tracts are in green then your area will receive the invitation to respond and the paper questionnaire in the first mailing. Remember, anyone who does not respond by phone or online will receive a paper questionnaire as part of their 4th mailing.
For the first time in history, the U.S. Census Bureau will post live self-response rates that will be updated daily at 3 pm ET. This new digital tool may be used to encourage family, friends, and communities to make sure they are counted.
Check out the link below and see where your community stands in comparison to others. It’s not only informative, it’s fun!
Mapper Link: 2020 Census Self Response Map
Type of Enumeration Area (TEA) Users can see the percentage of housing units in each TEA by clicking on a Census Tract.
The U.S. Census Bureau uses TEA as the approach to conducting the 2020 Census for housing units in a given geographic area. The TEA assignment is based on area characteristics to maximize respondent participation.
Key dates*:
2020
March 12 - October 31: Self Response Phase - Online, phone and mailed self-responses continue throughout the data collection process.
March 12 - 20: Mailings - Households will begin receiving official Census Bureau mail with information on how to respond to the 2020 Census.
April 1: Census Day is observed nationwide.
By this date, most households will receive an invitation to participate in the 2020 Census.
Once the invitation arrives, you should respond for your household in one of three ways: online, by phone, or by mail.
When you respond to the census, you'll tell the Census Bureau where you live as of April 1, 2020.
April - May: Follow-up Mailings - Households that have yet to respond will begin receiving official paper form of the Census 2020 questionnaire - will not include "Update Leave" areas.
June 1: Field Operations - Managers and staff commence administrative, training, deployment and support activities for peak data collection operations. This includes selecting and hiring field staff.
June 13 - July 9: Update Leave - Census takers drop off invitations to respond and paper questionnaires at the front doors of 5 million households stateside while updating the addresses.
July 1 - September 3: Group Quarters - Census takers will begin visiting college students who live on campus, people living in senior centers, and others who live among large groups of people. Students re-located as a result of COVID-19 should be counted at the usual university housing location.
August 11- September 30: Non-Response Follow-up (NRFU) - Census takers will begin interviewing households in person, visiting those that haven't responded to the 2020 Census.
September 22-24: Service-Based Enumeration/Homeless - As part of this process, the Census Bureau counts people in shelters, at soup kitchens and mobile food vans, on the streets, and count people who are experiencing homelessness at non-sheltered, outdoor locations.
December 31: Deliver to the President - The Census Bureau will deliver apportionment counts to the President and Congress as required by law.
2021
July 11, 2021: Deliver Redistricting Counts - The Census Bureau will deliver local counts to the States for legislative redistricting.
*2020 Census Operations subject to adjustment as a result of COVID-19
Information Safety and Security During the 2020 Census
The U.S. Census Bureau is committed to making the 2020 Census quick, easy, and safe for all participants.
Here are some tips to help you avoid scams and fraud.
Safeguards to protect your identity
Who to Count?
The 2020 Census will count everyone living in the United States and the five U.S. territories.
Census 2020
Direct link to the US Census 2020 website:
2020census.gov
Outreach Materials
The U.S. Census Bureau has posted information about the 2020 Census that can be shared with the public and provides resources that explain what partners can do to contribute:
2020 Census Partners Outreach Materials
Finding hard-to-survey areas
The Response Outreach Area Mapper (ROAM) application was developed to make it easier to identify hard-to-survey areas and to provide a socioeconomic and demographic characteristic profile of these areas:
Response Outreach Area Mapper
These language guides will help respondents complete the 2020 Census.
It's not too late to apply for a temporary part-time position with the 2020 Census. Apply to earn extra income and help your community.
The positions offer competitive pay, flexible hours, paid training, and weekly paychecks.
The U.S. Census Bureau launched the nationwide 2020 Census recruitment campaign on Tuesday 22 October 2019.
The Census Bureau needs to hire about 500,000 census takers across the country in 2020. Peak recruiting efforts start now to meet this goal.
The U.S. Census Bureau is recruiting people across the country to assist with the 2020 Census count:
Recruitment and Job Details