You count and your count matters.

What is the census?
  • The Census is a set of 10 questions that takes 10 minutes to complete and will determine the next 10 years of your quality of life in NYC.
  • It is a count of ALL adults and children living within the United States as of April 1st, 2020, regardless of citizenship status, age, or place of residence.
  • The information they collect determines important local services and projects like where new roads, bridges, and schools will be built; and determines the number of federal, state, and local government representatives for communities.
What is asked on the census?
  • You list everyone who lives in your home or apartment, including ALL adults and children living within the United States as of April 1st, 2020, regardless of citizenship status, age, or place of residence.
  • A phone number for a person in the home.
  • The name, sex, age, date of birth, and race of each person in the home.
  • The relationship of each person to a central person in the home.
How can I complete the census?
  • Online, by phone, or by mail sent from the Census Bureau.
  • The Census website and phone assisted response are available in English and 12 other languages including Arabic, Chinese, French, Haitian Creole, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese, with additional language guides available in 59 non-English languages.
  • A Census worker will visit you in person if you don’t respond by the end of April.
Why does the census matter?
  • The Census is our opportunity to share power, money, and representation for our communities.
  • The Census tells the federal government how to divide the $675 billion in annual federal funds that go towards schools, roads, community centers, food assistance programs, WIC, SNAP, Medicare, hospitals, fire stations, police stations and other vital programs that we depend on every day.
  • The Census data determines how many congressional representatives each state receives, so your Census response helps ensure that our communities are fully represented and that our neighborhoods have a louder voice.
  • The Census also triggers the redistricting process for elected districts. A stronger count in your neighborhood tells your representatives that you exist and matter in your district.
  • The Census informs businesses about where to locate their offices and create more jobs.
Is the census data safe and secure?
  • Yes, it is!
  • The Census Bureau, the agency tasked with collecting the information, is not allowed to share any information you provide to federal, local, or state agencies in an individual or household identifiable way.
  • Each Census Bureau employee has taken an oath to protect your information and can serve jail time, a fine, or both for disclosing any information
  • Your information is protected by authentication and authorization methods that can only be accessed by the Census Bureau cybersecurity team and fully trained Census workers.
  • Your responses cannot be used against you and are only used for aggregated community-level data.
  • The Census Bureau has a team of cybersecurity experts who monitor and protect all agency technology around the clock. No matter how you respond, your information remains protected. The Census Bureau designed the information collection process with layers of security to keep your information safe and secure.

Census Bureau Calendar

March 12 – April 27

The Census Bureau will begin mailing out the first set of information to households and will continue with several rounds of reminder letters to those that did not respond. We want to emphasize that people should respond online or by phone as soon as they get their info. Drive self-response by informing the public that the 2020 Census has begun and that people should participate using available response modes.

April 1

Census Day – By this date, every household will receive an invitation to participate in the Census.

August

Census Takers will begin to visit each household’s door that did not yet respond online, by phone, or by mail.

October 31st

The Census wraps up self-response and door to door visits.

To find out more, visit 2020census.gov. You can also view additional fliers and resources from the Census Bureau here.