While the U.S. government appointed and trained supervisors and enumerators to conduct the 1880 census, governmental statistics were collected by experts who dealt with local officials via correspondence from Washington, DC. Inquiries included the number of schools, details about cities--including sewage and drainage, utilities, and public services--and 105 additional inquiries that assessed governments' financial conditions.

A governments census was not conducted at the time of the 1900 decennial census, but one of the first tasks of the newly established U.S. Census Bureau was the 1902 Census of Governments. The 1902 Census of Governments collected data on federal, state, and local government revenues and expenditures, assessed valuations, tax levies, and debt.

Following 1902, the Census Bureau conducted censuses of governments in 1913, 1922, 1932, and 1942.

The U.S. Census Bureau has conducted a census of governments every 5 years, in years ending in "2" and "7" since 1957. This census, authorized by Title 13, U.S. Code, requires participation of all state and local governments in the United States, including counties, cities, townships, special districts, and school districts.Since 1957, the census of governments has focused on four major areas of data collection:

• Governmental organization--includes the number, characteristics, and descriptions of local governments (by type) and data on popularly elected officials.
• Taxable--includes property values by major property use categories.
• Governmental employment--includes the number of public employees and payrolls; extent of employee organizations; labor management; and governments' costs for employee benefits.
• Government finances--includes the collection of revenue data by source and type; expenditure by function; indebtedness; and cash and security holdings.

For more information about the history of the census of governments download the following publications: