Census Public Comment
The federal government is proposing major changes to how the decennial U.S. Census collects
information, including:
- Removing all race and ethnicity questions.
- New residence rules that require the government to determine everyone's immigration status and count only U.S. citizens and green card holders toward each state's seats in Congress.
- New residence rules that change how the census decides where you live.
These changes are being made through the Federal Register, which allows federal agencies to propose and implement policy changes.
Federal agencies are required to accept public input before finalizing regulatory changes. That means you have an opportunity to speak out and help shape the future of the Census, but you must do so by November 2!
Submit your comment now!
We recommend adding a few sentences that are personal to you, and how these changes will impact your communities directly.
Public Comment Preview
Re: Decennial Census of the Population of Americans; Proposed Residence Criteria and Proposed Regulations for Demographic Questions (Docket No. USBC-2026-0628).
I am writing to oppose the Census Bureau's proposed rule, "Decennial Census of the Population of Americans; Proposed Residence Criteria and Proposed Regulations for Demographic Questions," Docket No. USBC-2026-0628, because it would produce an inaccurate count of the people living in this country.
Every ten years, the census gives the country one reliable picture of who lives here. Congress, states, cities, and businesses use it to divide representation, distribute federal funds, and plan for the next decade. This rule would distort that picture. Fewer people would be counted, and some communities would disappear from the data altogether. The errors would affect the entire country, but they would be heaviest in immigrant, minority, and low-income households and in the states and towns where they live.
The undercount would come from several directions. The rule would stop counting many immigrants who live here, even though the Constitution requires counting every person. It also invites a question about legal status, which would keep many people in immigrant and mixed-status households from answering at all, whatever their own status. And it would decide where people live using tax records, even though many people are not required to file and the rule says nothing about how to count people such as those without stable housing, foster children, or people in shelters and nursing homes.
The invisibility would come from banning the race and ethnicity question and from households afraid to respond. Without that information, it is much harder to show where needs are greatest, enforce civil rights laws, check whether voting maps are fair, or catch health problems that hit some communities harder. States, local governments, and health systems would have to collect it themselves, adding cost and producing less reliable numbers.
This is a poor use of public money. More than $2.8 trillion a year in federal funding follows census numbers. When the count is wrong, that money goes to the wrong places for at least ten years, and schools, clinics, roads, and emergency plans are built for a population that does not match reality. Lower response rates also mean more costly follow-up work, paid for by taxpayers.
A bad count in 2030 cannot be corrected until at least 2040. I urge the Census Bureau to withdraw this rule.
