UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge

The U.S. Census is the backbone of the U.S. official statistics system. A decennial census is constitutionally mandated to determine proportional representation in Congress. It also provides population counts that are used to allocate public services and funding across the country, and to calculate vital statistics estimates. In the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Census data are crucial for understanding case and death rates as well. Currently, the U.S. Census Bureau is undertaking its 24th Census amid one of the most difficult enumeration periods in history. While the country faces dual threats of an economic shutdown and the public health pandemic, the decennial census is underway.