US census takers to conduct test runs in the South and West 4 years before 2030 count

Six places in the South and West will host practice runs four years prior to the 2030 U.S. census, a nationwide head count that helps determine political power and the distribution of federal funds.

Residents of western Texas; tribal lands in Arizona; Colorado Springs, Colorado; western North Carolina; Spartanburg, South Carolina; and Huntsville, Alabama, will be encouraged to fill out practice census questionnaires starting in the spring of 2026, U.S. Census Bureau officials said Monday.

The officials said they are unsure at this point how many people live in the areas that have been tapped for the test runs.

The statistical agency hopes the practice counts will help it learn how to better tally populations that were undercounted in the 2020 census; improve methods that will be utilized in 2030; test its messaging, and appraise its ability to process data as it is being gathered, Census Bureau officials said.

“Our focus on hard-to-count and historically undercounted populations was a driver in the site selection,” said Tasha Boone, assistant director of decennial census programs at the Census Bureau.

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