The law is clear - no personal information can be shared

The U.S. Census Bureau is bound by law to protect your answers and keep them strictly confidential. In fact, every employee takes an oath to protect your personal information for life.

It is the legal duty of the Census Bureau to protect your information

The Census Bureau is bound by Title 13 of the U.S. Code to keep your information confidential. Under Title 13, the Census Bureau cannot release any identifiable information about you, your home, or your business, even to law enforcement agencies. The law ensures that your private data is protected and that your answers cannot be used against you by any government agency or court. The answers you provide are used only to produce statistics. You are kept anonymous: the Census Bureau is not permitted to publicly release your responses in any way that could identify you or anyone else in your home.

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Why your count matters

Importance of your data

By being counted in the 2020 Census, you will help inform funding for local school programs, emergency services, and roads in our community. We all count, and we all get to shape our future by participating in the 2020 Census.

Impact in your community

Census data are used in many ways. Some examples include:

• Distribution of more than $675 billion annually in federal funds back to tribal, state, and local governments

• Redistricting of state legislative districts

• Forecasting future transportation needs for all segments of the population

• Assisting federal, tribal, state, and local governments in planning and implementing programs, services, and emergency response

• Designing facilities for people with disabilities, the elderly, and children

Other ways your count matters

Up to 20,000 Springdale residents were not counted in the 2010 Census. If the same number of people are uncounted in the 2020 Census the city could lose up to $3,300 per person per year, which adds up to $660,000,000 total over ten years.

Who is required to respond?

Everyone living in the 50 states, District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories (Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) is required by law to be counted in the 2020 Census.

Children count too!

If you have children in your home, make sure they are counted in the right place. Responding to the 2020 Census is an easy, safe, and important way to help provide resources for children and their communities for the next 10 years. When newborn babies and children are not counted, support for programs such as health insurance, hospitals, childcare, food assistance, schools, and early childhood development is impacted.

• Count children in the home where they live and sleep most of the time, even if their parents don’t live there.

• If a child’s time is divided between more than one home, count them where they stay most often. If their time is evenly divided, or you don’t know where they stay most often, count them where they are staying on Census Day - April 1, 2020.

• If a child’s family (or guardian) is moving during March or April 2020, count them at the address where they are living on April 1, 2020.

• Count children in your home if they don’t have a permanent place to live and are staying in your home on April 1, 2020, even if they are only staying with you temporarily.

• Count newborn babies at the home where they will live and sleep most of the time, even if they are still in the hospital on April 1, 2020.