Don’t miss being counted in the 2020 census just because you’re busy at the barn or traveling for a competition. The U.S. Constitution requires a census each decade, and this year, for the first time, you can participate in the nationwide count online.
Check out 2020census.gov for more details, including information about accessibility for all respondents.
The Timeline
Most households in the country will be able to start participating between March 12 and March 20, when the U.S. Census
Bureau will send out invitations and instructions for participating online. Also for the first time, you can participate by phone using 1-800 numbers. You can also participate via a mail-in paper questionnaire, which will be sent to households between mid-March and mid-April. The Census Bureau will mail periodic reminder postcards through April 27, and households that haven’t responded after that point may receive a visit by an in-person census-taker trained to conduct interviews and collect census data.
Who Gets Counted?
The census includes every person living in the United States, including non-citizens. If you’re visiting the United States temporarily on a personal vacation or professional trip, you won’t be included. But if you live in the U.S., you are included, regardless of your immigration status.
It’s Confidential
Under federal law, the Census Bureau is not allowed to publicly release your responses in any way that could identify you or your household, and your responses cannot be used against you. The law also bars the Census Bureau from sharing answers that identify individuals or households with other federal agencies, including immigration authorities. By law, your census responses can only be used to produced statistics, such as anonymized information about demographic groups.
You Can Answer in Many Languages
Paper forms will be available only in English and Spanish. You can respond online or by phone in English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, French, Haitian Creole, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.
Why It’s Important To Participate
Completing the census is mandatory, and it’s also an important part of our democracy that everyone in the country be counted. An accurate count is crucial, because census data is used in many important ways, including
- by government officials determine how many seats a state gets in the House of Representatives and set state and congressional district boundaries
- by local governments for their emergency preparedness and public safety plans
- by businesses to decide where to build factories, stores, and workplaces that contribute to job and economic growth
- by communities to plan new roads and schools
Need More Information?
For more information and resources, visit