The U.S. Constitution mandates that a census be taken every 10 years to count all people—both citizens and non citizens—living in the United States. Your status does not matter and no one will hold it against you for any reason.
Responding to the census is mandatory because getting a complete and accurate count of the population is critically important. An accurate count of the population serves as the basis for fair political representation and plays a vital role in many areas of public life in our communities.
Participation helps with the following:
1. State population counts from the census are used to appoint seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. No state has permanent claim to their current number of assigned House seats. State population counts determine how the 435 seats are split across the 50 states based on each state’s share of the national total.
2. State and local officials use census results to help redraw congressional, state, and local district boundaries to contain roughly equal numbers of people to ensure each person’s voting power is closely equivalent (meeting the one-person, one-vote rule). The Census Bureau will publish data regarding this based on participation no later than March 31, 2021—within one year of Census Day.
3. Census totals help determine the amount of funding that state governments and local communities receive from the federal government for the next decade. Census Bureau data were used to distribute more than $675 billion in federal funds to states and local communities for health, education, housing, and infrastructure programs during Fiscal Year 2015. Accurate census counts ensure that funding is equitably distributed for numerous programs such as Medicaid, highway planning and construction, special education grants to states, the National School Lunch Program, and Head Start.
4. Data from the census inform a wide range of government, business, and nonprofit decision making. Governments and nonprofit organizations rely on decennial census data to determine the need for new roads, hospitals, schools, and other public sector investments. Census data are also vital to businesses as a key source of information about the U.S. population’s changing needs.
5. Emergency Response - Detailed population information is critical for emergency response in the wake of disasters. First responders and disaster recovery personnel use census data to help identify where and how much help is needed. Similarly, demographic details from the census assist epidemiologists and public health personnel in everything from tracking disease outbreaks, to combating drug epidemics, to improving child health.
It takes only 10 minutes to be counted please take time to participate. Now more that ever we need the government to hear our voices and make sure we are counted!
Fill out your Census form here and be counted: https://my2020census.gov/
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