2020 Census

Image from Census.gov

In April, my co-worker, Lisa did a wonderful blog on the historic census records: U.S. Census   Records.

As she states, the census has been taken every ten years since 1790 for purposes of apportioning representatives for U.S. Congress. For privacy reasons, census records are not available for 72 years after they are taken. The 1950 Census will become available in 2022.

Access to the 1950 and more recent census records are available for genealogical purposes by filling out form BC-600 from the Census Bureau and paying the $65 fee. (I will wait for them to become public! How about you?) You do have to either be named in the census or be the heir of the person named in the census. You also have to provide their place of residence, which is often the very information that you are looking for.

This is the information required on the person who are hoping to find in a 1950 or more recent census record.
Bottom of the BC-600 

The next census will be taken next year - 2020. And the Census Bureau is currently hiring 500,000 people to help conduct it. Their website provides vital information for anyone with questions. The 2020 U.S. Census

The official 2020 Census logo from Census.gov

In January 2020, the Bureau will start counting people in very remote areas of Alaska and Maine and the U.S. territorial islands. By April, everyone in America will have received an invitation to participate in the census. You will be able to respond in three ways: Online, by phone or by mail. Census Enumerators (fancy name for counters) will be visiting some homes to collect responses. They will have an ID badge with the US Department of Commerce watermark and their photo on it.

All of your responses should be based on how circumstances were on 1 April 2020.

WHAT QUESTIONS WILL BE ASKED

• How many people are in your home?
• Is the home owned or rented?
• The gender of each person in the home?
• Age of each person?
• Race of each person?
• Is anyone in your home Hispanic, Latino or Spanish?
• The relationship of each person in your home?

Sample questions

WHO IS COUNTED - EVERYONE!

• Children born on April 1st are to be counted.
• Someone who dies on April 1st but was alive for any part of April 1st is to be counted
• Any child, foster, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, if they normally live in your home, are to be counted.
• If you move into a new house on April 1st, that new home should be listed as your residence.
• If you are moving, but have not yet moved into the new home, your old address should be listed as your residence.
• Citizens of foreign countries, living in the United States should be counted. Foreign visitors on vacation are not counted.
• College students living away from home are counted at their college address.
• Military personnel serving overseas should be counted at their usual home address in the US.
• People in prisons, correctional facilities, jails and detention centers are to be counted at the facility.
• People in hospitals who have a usual home, should be counted at their usual residence.
• Patents in long-term care, nursing facilities and who have no usual home should be counted at that health care facility

SPOTTING SCAMS - The Census Bureau will never ask you:

• Your Social Security Number
• Bank account or credit card numbers
• Your political affiliation
• Your religious affiliation
• I received a invitation for a "census" that was asking very detailed questions about my political affiliation. On closer examination it was from the Republican party. I did not finish filling out the survey. Several of my cousins also received this misleading "census".

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU RECEIVE YOUR 2020 CENSUS INVITATION FROM THE CENSUS BUREAU?

FILL IT OUT!

Your descendants will thank you!