2020 Census Dates
Self-Response Phase-March 12-October 15, 2020
All households should receive a postcard with instructions on how to participate online, over the phone, through the mail, or at a questionnaire assistance center. Residents can begin completing the Census.
Self-Response Phase-March 12-October 15, 2020
All households should receive a postcard with instructions on how to participate online, over the phone, through the mail, or at a questionnaire assistance center. Residents can begin completing the Census.
April 1, 2020
National Census Day. This is the day when all residents must be counted once, and only once, where they live on this date. Read FAQs for more information. Self-responses will be taken until April 30, 2020.
Non-response follow up: August 11- October 15, 2020
Non-response follow-up. If you haven’t completed your Census form by this time, you will be visited by a federal Census taker.
In-Person Group Quarters Enumeration: July 1- September 3, 2020
Group Quarters Enumeration is the U.S. Census Bureau’s special process for counting people who live or stay in group quarters during the 2020 Census. Because group quarters are owned or managed by a third party, the Census Bureau assists group quarters administrators in responding to the census on behalf of residents to ensure a complete and accurate census count.
Service-Based Enumeration: TBD
Service-Based Enumeration provides an opportunity for people without conventional housing and people who may be experiencing homelessness to be counted in the census. Through this process, people who are not included in counts of traditional household-type living arrangements or group quarters are enumerated where they stay or receive services or at predetermined outdoor locations.
Mobile Questionnaire Assistance: See Calendar
During the 2020 Census, more than 4,000 U.S. Census Bureau staff, called Census Response Representatives, will be in communities around the country that have low response rates to help people respond to the census. (These staffs are separate from the census takers who will visit households that do not respond.) Census Response Representatives will visit events and key locations such as grocery stores and markets, houses of worship, community festivals, public transit hubs, libraries, community centers, and other locations where people naturally gather. There, the representatives will help people submit their census responses either on a Census Bureau tablet or on the person’s own device.
Count of People experiencing homelessness outdoors: TBD
In 2020, the Census Bureau will devote three days to counting people who are experiencing homelessness across the country, with checks in place to ensure that people aren’t counted more than once. These steps follow months of outreach and coordination with local census offices, partners, shelter directors, service providers, and others:
- Steps 1: Counting people who are in shelters.
- Step 2: Counting people at soup kitchens and mobile food vans.
- Step 3: Counting people in non-sheltered, outdoor locations, such as tent encampments and on the streets.
Enumeration of Transitory Locations: TBD
2020 Census Enumeration at Transitory Locations counts people in occupied units at transitory locations who do not usually live or stay at another place. Transitory locations are places people are unlikely to live year-round, such as campgrounds, recreational vehicle (RV) parks, marinas, and hotels.