2030 Decennial Census Proposed Rule: County Advocacy Hub

Census enumeration period

Not separately defined; uses the “most of the time” standard to determine residency.

New defined period from January 3 to April 1 of the decennial census year, during which usual residence is determined.

“Usual residence”

The place where an individual lives and sleeps most of the time.

The residence at which an individual has lawfully spent the greatest number of days during the census enumeration period.

• How will the strict residency window affect counties with high seasonal population shifts, such as college towns, second home/tourist-based economies and agricultural communities?

Counting non-citizens

Counted at usual residence regardless of legal status.

Only U.S. citizens and individuals with legal permanent residence as of April 1 of the census year will be counted. All other non-citizen statuses, including visa holders, DACA recipients, TPS holders and asylum applicants, will not be counted.

• How many non-citizens, including lawful non-permanent residents, will be excluded compared to previous years?
• How will this undercount affect population-based formulas to determine federal funding for counties?

Cross-agency data verification

Census Bureau enters data-sharing agreements with federal agencies to help count households and reduce field follow-up costs.

Expanded use of records across federal agencies to determine respondents’ legal status and residence, including verification of residence using tax records.

• How will residency verification through tax documents impact areas with high transient or low-income populations who may not have such documents readily on file?
• Which specific administrative record sources will be used to determine legal status, and what is the error rate of each when matched to individual residents?
• What recourse does a county resident have if an administrative record wrongly excludes them from the count?
• Will counties be asked to supply local records, and if so, under what authority and at whose cost?

Changed residence categories

21 residence categories with further subcategories.

Consolidates into eight residence categories. Removes categories for college students, healthcare facilities, boarding/residential schools, correctional and non-correctional group homes and residential treatment centers for adults and juveniles, workers’ residential facilities, religious group quarters, shelters, individuals experiencing homelessness, visitors on Census Day and individuals in the diplomatic community.

• How will populations in the removed categories be counted differently?
• How could this change affect funding for counties?

New “Dependents” category

No standalone dependents category.

New category outlining that dependents are counted at whichever residence they spend the most time during the census enumeration period, even if that residence is away from their provider(s).

• How will “provider” be defined for children in shared custody, foster placements or kinship care arrangements that the county administers?
• Could children in county foster placements be counted away from the county that bears the placement cost, reducing the Title IV-E and child welfare funding tied to that population?

Race, ethnicity and sexual orientation questions

Includes questions about race, ethnicity and sexual orientation, including asking for an individual’s race and distinctions between same-sex and opposite-sex relationships in a household.

No questions about race, ethnicity or sexual orientation may appear on the short-form decennial census or any questionnaire used for enumeration.

• How will states and counties obtain race and ethnicity data it currently uses for Voting Rights Act compliance, Section 203 language assistance, redistricting defense and civil rights reporting?

Biological sex, date of birth and household relationship question

Includes questions about biological sex, date of birth and household relationships.

May still be included as a measure to facilitate data verification for enumeration.

• Will age data remain available at the county and tract level with enough reliability to support programs keyed to specific age groups, such as Older Americans Act services and childcare allocations?

Demographic question responses

Response to census questions generally required by law.

No one is required to respond to any demographic question as part of the decennial census.

• If demographic responses are optional, what item non-response rate does the Census Bureau anticipate, and how will partial responses affect the county’s population total?

Residence criteria question

Not separately classified.

Explicitly defined as not a demographic question and requires a response.

• What residence questions will be mandatory, and how will the county explain to residents which questions they must answer and which they may decline?

Disclosure avoidance

Disclosure avoidance techniques used to protect respondent privacy in published data, potentially introducing statistical noise into counts.

Census Bureau should prioritize accuracy of the population count and cannot publish demographic data if publication necessitates introducing uncertainty into the population count (i.e. cannot use disclosure avoidance techniques to protect privacy if doing so affects population counts).

• How will removing disclosure avoidance protections potentially expose individually identifiable information, especially in small or sparsely populated counties?

Other surveys (e.g. American Community Survey)

Demographic questions asked on the American Community Survey.

Unchanged; the Census Bureau can still ask demographic questions on the American Community Survey or other surveys not related to enumeration.

• Will the Population Estimates Program base be the apportionment count or a separate resident count, and which will federal funding formulas use?