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Census Bureau to Use Citizenship Question in 2030 Test, Alarming Experts
The decision follows the Trump administration's failed attempt to add the question to the 2020 census.
Published on Feb. 6, 2026
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The U.S. Census Bureau plans to use a survey form with a citizenship question as part of its practice test of the 2030 census, raising concerns among experts that the Trump administration may try to make a significant change to the once-a-decade headcount that failed during the president's first term.
Why it matters
The Constitution's 14th Amendment states that the census should count the "whole number of persons in each state," which the Census Bureau has interpreted to mean anyone living in the U.S. regardless of legal status. The use of a citizenship question could lead to an undercount of immigrant populations and impact congressional representation and federal funding allocations.
The details
The field test is being conducted in Huntsville, Alabama, and Spartanburg, South Carolina, and is using questions from the American Community Survey (ACS) rather than recent census forms. The ACS includes a question asking "Is this person a citizen of the United States?" which has never been used for a census field test before.
- The 2026 field test was originally planned for six locations but was pared down to two by the Trump administration.
- In his first term, President Donald Trump unsuccessfully tried to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
The players
U.S. Census Bureau
The federal agency responsible for conducting the decennial census and other surveys.
Donald Trump
The former president who unsuccessfully tried to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
Joe Biden
The current president who rescinded Trump's orders related to excluding undocumented immigrants from the census.
Terri Ann Lowenthal
A former congressional staffer who consults on census issues and says the 2026 test has become "a shell of what the Census Bureau proposed and should do to ensure an accurate 2030 Census."
Mark Mather
An associate vice president at the Population Reference Bureau, a nonpartisan research group, who says the ACS form "wouldn't provide a valid test of 2030 census operations."
What they’re saying
“This full pivot from a real field test is alarming and deserves immediate congressional attention, in my view.”
— Terri Ann Lowenthal, Former congressional staffer
“The ACS form wouldn't provide a valid test of 2030 census operations. It's a completely different animal.”
— Mark Mather, Associate vice president, Population Reference Bureau
What’s next
Republican lawmakers in Congress have recently introduced legislation that would exclude some non-citizens from the apportionment figures, and several GOP state attorneys have filed federal lawsuits seeking to add a citizenship question to the next census and exclude people in the U.S. illegally from the apportionment count.
The takeaway
The Census Bureau's decision to use a citizenship question in its 2030 census test raises concerns about potential efforts to undercount immigrant populations and impact political representation and federal funding allocations, despite the Supreme Court's previous rejection of adding such a question to the 2020 census.
