What questions are included on the census?
Before looking at what questions are on the census, it's important to look at what questions are not on it. There is no question on the census related to citizenship. Additionally, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, census-takers will never be asked for Social Security numbers, bank or credit card account numbers, donations or anything on behalf of a political party.
“Despite an unsuccessful attempt by the administration to add citizenship as a question on the 2020 census, immigrant communities may still be afraid to participate in the census,” said Shoba Wadhia, Samuel Weiss Faculty Scholar Clinical Professor of Law and director of the Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Penn State. “Alleviating this fear will be a challenge and based in part on how successful community organizations are in encouraging immigrant communities to participate in the census.”
Questions on the census include how many people are living in the home; whether the home is owned or rented; and what the relationship is between each person in the home. Click here for the full list, and more information about how answers may be used.
The U.S. Census Bureau is not permitted to share any individual data with other agencies and is bound by law to protect individuals’ answers and keep those answers strictly confidential. The law states that an individual’s private information cannot be published and answers to the questions cannot be used against an individual by any government agency or court. To support historical research, Title 44 of the U.S. Code does allow for the release of this individual data after 72 years.
"According to Title 13, all census data can only be used to produce statistics, which is also a key mandate for the U.S. Census Bureau," said Aleksandra (Sesa) Slavkovic, professor in the departments of statistics and public health sciences and associate dean for graduate education in Penn State's Eberly College of Science. "Thus the census has been at the forefront on producing its statistical data products with the strongest confidentiality guarantees in the federal government. To account for today's digital age and data proliferation from many sources outside the census, the bureau is implementing a formal privacy methodology for publishing statistics that, to date, offers the strongest privacy protection for the respondents."
Counting college students
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, at universities nationally:
- College students residing on campus or living near a university for the majority of the year will be counted in those individual households near and on the campus.
- College students who reside at home will be counted by those households.
- U.S. college students who are living and attending college outside the United States are not counted in the census.
- Foreign students living and attending college in the United States should be counted at the on- or off-campus residence where they live the majority of the time.
Later this year, Penn State will provide information about forthcoming efforts to assist with census counts on students in residence halls.
To learn more about the 2020 Census, go to https://www.2020census.gov.