May 2025 Census Project Update

Census Stakeholder Community Mourns the Loss of Census Champions

On May 9, John Thompson, who served as the 24^th Director of the U.S. Census Bureau from 2013 to 2017, passed away at his home in Bend, Oregon. He worked at the U.S. Census Bureau for 27 years and also served as President of NORC at University of Chicago. In 2017, he was tapped to serve as the Executive Director of the Council of Professional Associations for Federal Statistics.

In retirement, John remained actively engaged with the federal statistical community, including serving on The Census Project Advisory Committee. John was incredibly generous with his time, serving as a speaker at frequent webinars, attending meetings with congressional staff and Administration officials, and offering his assistance whenever it was requested. The Census Project posted a tribute to John, sharing quotes from his colleagues, including Acting Census Bureau Director Ron Jarmin.

Census stakeholders lost another prominent champion on Wednesday, May 31, when U.S. Representative Gerry Connolly (D-VA-11) passed away at the age of 75. Representative Connolly was elected to Congress in 2009. He rose to the position of Ranking Member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which oversees the Census Bureau, where he was a vocal supporter of the agency’s operations and workforce. As reported by Politico, Democrats will hold a caucus election on June 24 to fill the late Rep. Connolly’s seat on the committee.

Appropriations Update

Throughout May, details gradually emerged regarding the Fiscal Year 2026 President’s budget proposal and the congressional mark up schedule.

Administration Action

As reported by The Census Project in a May 3 blog, the Administration released a “skinny” budget request for Fiscal Year 2026 on May 2, 2025, which is mostly just an outline. This initial release confirmed that President Trump will request $8.5 billion for the Commerce Department, the Census Bureau’s parent agency, a $1.7 billion reduction from the FY 2025 enacted level. That document did not specify what the Administration is requesting for the Census Bureau in FY 2026.

On May 30, the Administration released additional details regarding its FY 2026 budget request. While more information is needed to provide a thorough analysis, the additional details indicate that the Administration is requesting $1,676.5 billion for the Census Bureau in FY 2026. The amount includes $1.388 billion for Periodic Censuses and Programs and $288.5 million for Current Surveys and Programs, the two main Bureau accounts. The total would be a $294 million increase from the FY 2024 and FY 2025 enacted funding level of $1.3825 billion (and about $76 million above the agency’s FY 2025 budget request). The Census Project will issue a blog to provide additional analysis and information about the request.

Congressional Action

While waiting for the President’s request, Congress pressed ahead with its deliberations and scheduling plans. In a May 29 blog, The Census Project shared the news that the Senate and House Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations Subcommittees will be holding hearings with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on June 4 and 5, respectively. These hearings will most likely be the Appropriations Committees’ only opportunities to publicly scrutinize the Census Bureau’s FY 2026 request.

On May 21, Representative Tom Cole (R-OK-4), Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, released his FY 2026 “markup” schedule. The House CJS bill is slated for subcommittee consideration on July 7 and full committee consideration on July 10. As reported by The Census Project, the Senate Appropriations Committee has yet to announce its markup schedule.

In related news, over 40 bipartisan members of the U.S. House of Representatives signed a “Dear Colleague” letter to the leaders of the House CJS Appropriations Subcommittee, urging them to “prioritize the highest possible funding for the U.S. Census Bureau.” A similar letter was sent from 21 Democrat Senators requesting $2 billion for the Bureau. The House letter was led by Representatives Judy Chu (D-CA-28) and Gilbert Ray Cisneros (D-CA-31). The Senate letter was led by Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Tina Smith (D-MN).

Policy Update

Briefing on Capitol Hill Hosted by The Census Project

On May 22, The Census Project hosted a briefing for Congressional staff on the importance of the American Community Survey (ACS).

Featured guest speakers included: Nadia Evangelou (National Association of REALTORS®) on the business uses of ACS data; Denise Desiderio (Akin) on uses for native Americans and tribal nations; and Raul “Danny” Vargas (American Latino Veterans Association) on uses that benefit veterans.

Materials from the briefing, including speaker bios and a video recording, are available.

Census Bureau Resumes Hiring Temporary Workers

On May 15, the Census Bureau announced that it is proceeding with hiring temporary workers to conduct interviews for federal government surveys—almost four months after the Trump Administration had implemented a hiring freeze. The Bureau has a unique, immediate need to hire temporary workers to conduct the 2026 Census Test, which is scheduled to begin as early as this fall in six sites nationwide. As reported by NPR, it is not clear why the temporary positions are limited to 90-day appointments.

As reported by The Census Project, stakeholders remain concerned about the ability of the Bureau to conduct necessary time-sensitive work, especially the upcoming 2026 Census Test, with potentially insufficient funding, reduced personnel, and restrictions on the Bureau’s ability to hire more.

Stakeholders Urge Restoration of Census Advisory Committees

A coalition wrote to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on May 7, 2025 with their concerns about the termination of the 2030 Census Advisory Committee, the Census Scientific Advisory Committee, and the National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic, and Other Populations.

The groups, led by The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, called the three Census Bureau advisory committees’ elimination “a major setback at a pivotal moment for the bureau, both in its planning for the 2030 Census and its extensive efforts to streamline and modernize other data collection activities to eliminate duplication, contain costs, and improve data accuracy and usefulness.

Prison Policy Initiative Releases Report

On May 13, the Prison Policy Initiative released the second in a series of reports looking at the impact of prison gerrymandering in North Carolina.

Requests for Public Comments

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

The Bureau published a notice in the Federal Register requesting public comments on the extension of the School Enrollment Supplement to the Current Population Survey. Comments are due by June 23, 2025.

The Bureau announced it is seeking public comments on the proposed extension of the Annual Survey of School System Finances by July 7, 2025.

Census Bureau Releases

Public pensions in the nation totaled nearly $6 trillion in 2024, according to the Annual Survey of Public Pensions (ASPP) released on May 29.

On May 29, the Census Bureau released two new data tables from the 2022 Economic Census — one presenting data on products by industry and the other on industries by product.

On May 22 and May 8, the Census Bureau released data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey, a survey that measures business conditions and projections on an ongoing basis.

The 2023 Nonemployer Statistics (NES), which provides annual subnational economic data about businesses that have no paid employees and are subject to federal income tax with receipts of $1,000 or more ($1 or more for the Construction sector), were released on May 15.

On May 15, the Census Bureau released the 2023 Community Resilience Estimates for Puerto Rico, which include population estimates by level of social vulnerability to disasters for the commonwealth, municipios, and census tracts.

Cities of all sizes grew on average from 2023 to 2024 with Southern and Western cities experiencing accelerated growth according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Vintage 2024 estimates released on May 15.

The April 2025 Business Formation Statistics were released on May 14.

On May 8, the Bureau released the new Nonemployer Statistics by Demographics (NES-D) series.

A new report that examines geographic mobility in the United States by birth cohorts also known as generations based on 2005 to 2023 American Community Survey (ACS) 1-year estimates was released on May 6.

On May 1, the Census Bureau released the 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances.