Due to the lapse of federal funding, portions of this website are not being updated. Any inquiries submitted via www.census.gov will not be answered until appropriations are enacted.
The Constitutional basis for conducting the decennial census is to reapportion the U.S. House of Representatives. Apportionment is the process of distributing the 435 memberships, or seats, in the U.S. House of Representatives among the 50 states.