These slides are from D’Vera Cohn’s presentation on a panel about covering the 2020 census at the Asian American Journalists Association 2019 convention in Atlanta.

1. Once in a decade: Covering the
2020 census
D’Vera Cohn
Senior writer/editor

2. 2020 census basics
August 5, 2019 2
What is it?
• Count everyone living in the
U.S. on April 1 (Census Day)
• Count them once, only once
and in the right place
• Count them where they live
(mostly in households, reached
via the home address)
What are its uses?
• Apportionment (seats in the
House of Representatives)
• Redistricting (drawing of
political district lines within
states)
• Federal funds/local services
• Basis of sample surveys
• Academic research
• Marketing and business
decisions

3. 2020 census timetable
August 5, 2019 3
• Now: Preparations
• January: First counting
(Alaska)
• March: Mailings asking
most Americans to respond
online, on paper or by phone
• Spring: Special counts of
homeless, people in group
quarters such as dorms and
military barracks
• May-August: Follow up with
those who don’t respond
For more detail, see census operational plan here: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/2020-census.html

4. When do the numbers come out?
• By Dec. 31, 2020: Total
population and
apportionment (House seats
by state)
• By April 1, 2021: Block-level
redistricting data on race,
Hispanic origin (for total
population and voting-age
population); occupancy
• Other products rolled out
through 2023
August 5, 2019 4

5. What does the census ask?
• Name
• Sex
• Age & date of birth
• Hispanic, Latino or Spanish
origin
• Race
• Relationship to person who
fills out the census form
• Is the home owned or rented
August 5, 2019 5

6. What’s new on the census questionnaire?
New details on origins Same-sex couples
August 5, 2019 6

7. August 5, 2019 7
The rest of the race question categories

8. • Sexual orientation or gender identity
questions
• Combined race/Hispanic origin question
• Middle East/North Africa category
• Citizenship question
August 5, 2019 8
What’s NOT on the census questionnaire?

9. • Most people will be asked to respond online
• Wider use of government records to fill in missing information
• More reliance on technology/automation
• New privacy protections
August 5, 2019 9
What else is new in 2020?

10. August 5, 2019 10
Some likely issues
• Cybersecurity and online response scalability
• Disinformation/social media
• Counting prisoners
• Persistent problem of undercounting some groups; new focus on
trying to count all young children (newborn to age 4)
• Outreach/reassurance campaigns will vary from place to place
• Can the Census Bureau hire enough people? And the right ones?
• New privacy protection will add noise to data in a different way –
how much will it matter?
• Funding and politics

11. August 5, 2019 11
One-in-twenty young children were missed in 2010

12. August 5, 2019 12
Instructions about who should be included (or not)

13. August 5, 2019 13
Non-English languages: Paper forms in Spanish; online
forms in 12 languages, phone assistance in 13

14. August 5, 2019 14
Languages for online and telephone response

15. August 5, 2019 www.pewresearch.org 15
D’Vera Cohn @allthingscensus
Senior writer/editor
dcohn@pewresearch.org