About 2010 Census

What
Count
The Census is a count of everyone residing in the United States: in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Island Areas.

Who
Everyone
All residents of the United States must be counted. This includes people of all ages, races, ethnic groups, citizens and non-citizens.

When
Every 10 years
Every 10 years, and the next census occurs in 2010. Census questionnaires will be mailed or delivered to every household in the United States in March 2010. The questions ask you to provide information that is accurate for your household as of April 1, 2010.

The Census Bureau must count everyone and submit state population totals to the U.S. President by December 31, 2010.

The first Census was conducted in 1790 and has been carried out every 10 years since then.

Where
Everywhere in the U.S.
The census counts everyone residing in the United States: in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Island Areas.

People should be counted where they live and sleep most of the year.

Why
The U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 2) mandates a headcount of everyone residing in the United States. The population totals determine each state’s Congressional representation. The numbers also affect funding in your community and help inform decision makers about how your community is changing.

How
The Census Bureau will mail or deliver questionnaires to your house in March 2010. A second form will mailed to households that do not respond to the initial questionnaire.

Operational Milestones

Address Verification – COMPLETE
Approximately 140,000 Census Bureau employees checked 145 million addresses from March through July 2009.

Form Delivery and Mail Back Phase – COMPLETE
The 2010 Census mail out was the largest single delivery ever undertaken by the United States – over 120 million forms were mailed in March 2010. Additional forms were sent to increase mail back participation in low responding areas.

Door-to-Door Follow up Phase – COMPLETE
Census takers visited roughly 47 million households that did not mail back their questionnaire (or who did not receive a form delivered to them).

Quality Assurance Operations (4/11/10 -9/3/10)
The Census Bureau will conduct three major quality assurance operations and other processes to ensure that the 2010 Census is accurate and complete.

• Coverage Follow Up Operation (4/11/10 – 8/13/10) - During this operation, the Census Bureau will call households who have responded but there are questions regarding the answers on the form.
• Vacant Delete Check (7/24/10 – 8/25/10) - Additional information is collected to ensure that housing units classified as vacant (or nonexistent) were in fact unoccupied on April 1st.
• Field Verification (8/6/10 -9/3/10) - The Census Bureau verifies whether or not an address exists and confirms its geographic location if it does not match an address in their files. These addresses are from those households who submitted a census form without an identification number linked to the Census Bureau’s address files.

Complete Questionnaire Data Capture and Processing (5/10/10 – 12/30/10)
Once the Census Bureau receives completed questionnaires the data is put into an electronic format, processed and then tabulated in order to provide state population totals necessary for apportionment.

2010 Population Counts Reported (12/31/10)
As mandated by law, the national and state population counts must be delivered to the President of the United States by December 31st. This data is used for congressional apportionment. Some states will likely gain (or lose) seats in the U.S. House of Representatives based on the 2010 Census count. By March 31, 2011, the Census Bureau will release more detailed data to help states redraw congressional, state, and local legislative district boundaries in the process called “redistricting”.

Data Release Schedule
2010 Census data will be released in phases being with the state population totals. Click here to view complete schedule.

2010-data-products-release-schedule.pdf (53.4 KB) 2010 Data Products Release Schedule

Bi- State’s Role in the 2010 Census:

Bi-State Regional Commission has pledged to be a 2010 Census Partner in both Iowa and Illinois and has adopted a resolution in support of the 2010 Census. In doing so Bi-State staff plans the following activities:

• Act as an intermediary contact between the Census Bureau and local governments and other affiliates that would like assistance being involved in the 2010 Census;

• Provide resources and information (including promotional materials as available), and participate in Census activities;

• Create a Census 2010 page on the Bi-State Regional Commission website.

• Encourage participation and cooperative coordination among the local governments, and hold quarterly meetings for Complete Count Committees to coordinate activities and share ideas.

For more information:

Census Informational Reviews: From Commission in Reviews

2010 Census Website - http://2010.census.gov/2010census/
Meghan Overton, Data Services Planner at (309) 793-6302 ext. 126 or