March 2025 Census Project Update

Appropriations Update

As reported in a recent Census Project blog, on March 13, by a vote of 54-46, the U.S. Senate passed H.R. 1968, the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025. This continuing resolution (CR) funds all federal agencies, including the U.S. Census Bureau, through September 30, 2025. The U.S. House of Representatives had passed the same measure two days earlier by a vote of 217 to 213. President Trump signed the bill into law on March 15, 2025.

Unlike past CRs that typically fund agencies at their previous year’s levels, this measure increases overall defense spending by $6 billion and cuts non-defense spending by $13 billion. It remains to be seen how these changes will impact specific agencies and programs.

The Census Bureau is not explicitly mentioned in the CR, which means the account toplines could continue at the same levels through the end of FY 2025. The bill requires the Department of Commerce, the Census Bureau’s parent agency, to submit an operating plan to Congress detailing how it will allocate its funding through September 30. As a result, funds could be moved within the Census Bureau’s accounts. It may not be possible to know what the final program levels are for the Bureau’s two accounts until the Department’s operating plan is finalized.

As a reminder, the Census Bureau accounts are the Current Surveys and Programs, which is funded in FY 2025 currently at $328,500,000, and the Periodic Censuses and Programs, which is funded in FY 2025 currently at $1,054,000,000.

The Census Project will share details once the agency’s operating plan is available.

Policy Update

Census Project Releases 2025 Report on the American Community Survey
At the end of March, The Census Project released its third annual update of our March 2022 comprehensive report on the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS), “America’s Essential Economic and Social Data at Risk – 2025 Update The Urgent National Need to Protect and Enhance the American Community Survey Data.” The report highlights new case uses of the ACS, highlighting, among others, how business, economic development, tribal nations, and organizations serving veterans rely on the ACS. The report also outlines challenges facing the ACS and makes recommendations for sustaining and enhancing the survey.

The new report was featured in a March 25 webinar hosted by the National Association for Business Economics.

In addition, Mary Jo Mitchell, The Census Project Co-Director, unveiled the report as well at the annual meeting of the National League of Cities in Washington, D.C. on March 9.

Census Project Release Revised Fact Sheets
On March 19, The Census Project published a blog promoting four new fact sheets on timely issues for the decennial census and the American Community Survey (ACS):

The importance of the American Community Survey (ACS);
The dire need to invest in the ACS;
The decennial census’ decade-long budget cycle and when/why increases are necessary during that cycle; and
The relationship between the U.S. Postal Service and the Census Bureau and why the Bureau remains the cheaper option for running a decennial headcount.

Census Issues Featured in “Federal News Network” Interviews
In March, Federal News Network covered issues important to census stakeholders:

Mary Jo Mitchell, The Census Project Co-Director, was a guest on a show, “Census Bureau advisors are feeling like they don’t count,” which aired on March 25.
On March 27, former U.S. Chief Statistician Nancy Potok was interviewed on “Federal statistical agencies: they count too.”

New Presidential Executive Order on Information Silos
On March 20, President Trump issued an Executive Order, “Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos.” An accompanying fact sheet states the EO directs agency heads to “grant full and prompt access of unclassified Agency records, data, and systems to Federal officials in order to identify and eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse.” Further, the EO authorizes and facilitates both the intra-and-inter agency sharing and consolidation of unclassified agency records and ensures agency heads will provide “immediate, unfettered access to comprehensive data from all state programs that receive federal funding, including third-party databases, to enhance oversight.”

The Census Bureau, nor any other federal agency, is explicitly mentioned in the EO.

New Analysis Released Regarding Undercount of Young Black Children
Count All Kids released a new analysis by Bill O’Hare, showing an extremely high net undercount of young black children in the 2020 Census, based on the modified race file that the Bureau released on March 6.

New Study Published on Effects of Citizenship Question on Household Survey Response
On March 20, the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management published a new study that was reported in the media, documenting the effects of a citizenship question on household survey response. Building off of research previously conducted by the Census Bureau, the study found that response rates for many of the least responsive groups would have fallen even lower if questionnaires for the last census had asked, “Is this person a citizen of the United States?”

Requests for Public Comments

In March, The Census Project released two blogs highlighting requests for public comments that may be of interest to census stakeholders:

Census Bureau Releases

The Census Bureau released a new summary report and data tables for the 2024 Annual Survey of Public Employment & Payroll (ASPEP) on March 27. In its release, the agency said that “these statistics provide a comprehensive look at the employment of the nation’s state and local governments.”

On March 13 and March 27, the Census Bureau released data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey.

On March 27, the Census Bureau released new data tables for the Annual Survey of State Government Finances. These statistics provide a summary of the finances of state governments for fiscal year 2023.

The Bureau announced on March 14 that it was initiating collection of data for the 2024 Annual Integrated Economic Survey (AIES).

On March 13, the Bureau released new Employment Status and Class of Worker tables from the 2023 American Community Survey 1-year estimates.

According to Vintage 2024 estimates of population totals and components of change released March 13 by the Census Bureau, population growth in U.S. metro areas as a whole was faster between 2023 and 2024 than in the previous year and outpaced that of the nation. Additionally, some metro areas that experienced population declines during the COVID-19 pandemic are now observing population gains.

Business Formation Statistics for February 2025 were released on March 12.

On March 6, the Census Bureau released the 2020 Modified Age and Race Census (MARC) file.