Every ten years the Federal Government conducts a census to count the number of people living in the United States. The census is mandated by Article 1 Sec. 2 of the United States Constitution as amended in 1868.
The method of conducting the census is regulated by Title 13 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
The most important consequence of the census is the apportionment of representatives for each state. 435 representatives are divided among the 50 states according to how many people live in each state, this number being derived from the census.
Richardson Library has Decennial Census records from 1910 to present. More Decennial census data is available at NHGIS/IPUMS.
Every 10 years, the U.S. Census Bureau conducts a census to determine the number of people living in the United States. The U.S. Census Bureau conducts the census in years ending in zero, on Census Day, which is April 1.
The data collected by the decennial census are used to apportion the number of seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives. The first U.S. census was in 1790 during the first term of our first president, George Washington. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson led the effort. The population was 3,929,625, and Congress used these results to apportion 105 seats among 15 states.
The Constitution of the United States, Article I, Sections 2 and 9, directs that a census or enumeration be taken.
Section 2 states, “The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct."
In 1954, Congress codified earlier census acts and all other statutes authorizing the decennial census into law under Title 13, U.S. Code. Title 13 requires the Census Bureau to notify Congress of the planned subjects for the census no later than three years before that census, and of the specific wording of questions to be asked no later than two years before that census.
