Census Bureau Submits Questions for 2010 Census and American Community Survey to Congress

MARCH 31, 2008 – The U.S. Census Bureau submitted to Congress the questions it will ask for the 2010 Census.

The questions on gender, age, race, ethnicity, relationship and whether you own or rent your home are essentially the same as those asked in 2000, with some improvements designed to help reduce respondent confusion.

Estimated to take less than 10 minutes to complete, the 2010 Census will be one of the shortest and easiest to complete since the nation’s first census in 1790.

The Census Bureau also submitted the questions for the American Community Survey (ACS) — the new yearly survey that eliminates the need for a decennial long-form questionnaire and provides key socioeconomic and housing data about the nation’s changing population every year rather than once a decade.

Three new questions in the 2008 ACS gather data about health insurance coverage, marital history, and military service-related disability status.

More: Questions Planned for the 2010 Census and American Community Survey [PDF-1.6MB]