Census

GAO: Tech, Automation Improved Decennial Census Productivity

More than half of the Americans self-responded to the decennial census using the internet in 2020.

  • By Frank Konkel

Coalition Urges Congress to Boost Funding for Census Modernization

A group of Census experts and data users are asking appropriators to provide $2 billion in funding to the Census Bureau in fiscal 2022.

  • By Frank Konkel

Telework Works and Other Workforce Lessons Census Learned During the Pandemic

The U.S. Census Bureau’s customer experience chief encouraged agencies to embrace small gains.

  • By Frank Konkel

Shortened Census Led to an Incomplete Count in Some Areas

The Census Bureau claimed a 99.98% completion rate nationally when the count ended Oct. 15, but some areas did not reach that level.

  • By The Pew Charitable Trusts

Census Pulls Back on Year-End Delivery Commitment, Pushes Decision to Career Staff

Rushing in an effort to truncate the data processing timeline has "some risks," bureau official admits.

  • By Eric Katz

People Want Data Privacy but Don't Always Know What They're Getting

Differential privacy has recently emerged as a leading technique and is being rapidly adopted.

  • By Gabriel Kaptchuk, Elissa M. Redmiles and Rachel Cummings, The Conversation

'Nobody Knows What's Going On': Census Workers Decry Chaos as Trump Administration Challenges Court Order

Census enumerators say they have received inconsistent messages and workloads in recent days despite court order to keep count going.

  • By Eric Katz

Trump Administration Appeals Block on Census Immigration Plan

Experts have been skeptical about the feasibility of the plan to identify people living here illegally.

  • By The Pew Charitable Trusts

'Perfect Storm' Threatens 'Major Institutional Defeat' for the Census, Top Watchdog Says

The decennial count is ahead of schedule overall, but a condensed schedule and hiring shortfalls are creating significant risks.

  • By Eric Katz

Shortened Census Count Will Hurt Communities of Color

Some communities face less convenient access to the mail, telephone and online services needed to respond to the survey while others distrust the system.

  • By Aggie Yellow Horse, The Conversation

Condensed Schedule and Counters Not Showing Up to Work Have Put the Census at Risk

Census has just a month to complete its count and GAO says it still faces significant challenges in collecting accurate data.

  • By Eric Katz

AI Methods Make COVID-19 Forecasting More Local

The researchers say that officials and anyone in the public can use in their decision-making processes.

  • By Sonia Fernandez, Futurity

Pandemic, Privacy Rules Add to Worries over 2020 Census Accuracy

People who work with statistics know that there needs to be “good data in” in order to get “good data out.”

  • By Qian Cai, The Conversation

Census Established a Governance Group on Data Quality Amid COVID-19 Worries

A new GAO report shows the bureau continuing to struggle with privacy and data security issues.  

  • By Mariam Baksh
Featured eBooks
The State of the Federal Cloud
Tech Policy Trends
Addressing the Tech Talent Gap

Census Delays Create Uncertainty for Temporary Workers

Bureau faces a series of risks as it attempts decennial count during a pandemic.

  • By Eric Katz

Census Bureau Seeks Industry Input on Cybersecurity Acquisitions Strategy for Next Decade

With data collection for the 2020 census underway, the bureau is thinking about how artificial intelligence and other capabilities might help address sore points.

  • By Mariam Baksh

States Start Hiring Battalions of Contact Tracers to Track Covid-19

As governors look to loosen coronavirus restrictions, a key benchmark will be improving the ability to track and isolate new cases. That will include more “contact tracers,” investigators who track down those who’ve come in contact with infected people.

  • By Andrea Noble

How Census Is Building a Citizenship Database Covering Everyone Living in the U.S.

By March 2021, the bureau plans to release anonymized statistics while keeping the raw data on individuals' citizenship status confidential.

  • By Aaron Boyd

Census Advocates Spread the Word on New Online Forms

March letters will kick off the decennial count.

  • By The Pew Charitable Trusts

One-Third of U.S. Residents Suspicious of Census, Survey Finds

As the political stakes become clearer, more states are trying to motivate residents to participate in the census this spring.

  • By The Pew Charitable Trusts

One Month Out, Watchdog Warns About Census IT and Cybersecurity Challenges

The Census Bureau this month switched the internet response system that respondents will use to complete the 2020 census questionnaire. The last-minute change worries the Government Accountability Office.

  • By Andrea Noble