Census Information

What is the Census?

The census is an important aspect of American democracy. It is held every decade and requires that every household fill out a questionnaire. If a household fails to fill out the questionnaire, they could be fined up to $5,000 (Farmer, 2018). The first census occurred in 1790 but only started to occur every decade starting in 1930 (Farmer, 2018). One of the roles of the census is to provide data on the number of residents in each state to determine how many congressional representatives they will receive. The census is also helpful to determine how the various districts throughout the country will be divided. The Census Bureau is in charge of conducting the census and is overseen by the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs and the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (Farmer, 2018).

By: Osvaldo Sanchez Fernandez

What role does the census play in policy?

One of the major roles that the census has, is that it helps determine how political representation, resources, and allocation of funds should be divided among racial communities. Having an accurate census count is important but can be quite difficult (O'Connell et al., 2020). It is important so that struggling communities can be accounted for and have increased allocation of funds. It also allows for increased political representation for said populations. In recent times, conducting the census has been difficult as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic (O'Connell et al., 2020). Many workers were unable to perform the census and the campaigns were at a halt. However, the census has returned to its usual activity and will be important for creating equality among different categories of communities, especially racial, in the United States.