Census 2000 Will Be the Largest Peacetime Effort in the History of the United States.

More than 285,000 census takers and support personnel will be needed to account for the anticipated 118 million housing units and 275 million people across the United States. But it isn’t its size that makes Census 2000 important. It is all the things that we will learn about ourselves that will help America succeed in the next millennium. The census is as important to our nation as highways and telephone lines. Federal dollars supporting schools, employment services, housing assistance, highway construction, hospital services, programs for the elderly and more are distributed based on census figures.

Your Answers Are Important.

About a week before Census Day — April 1, 2000 — most households will receive a questionnaire by mail. Census takers will deliver forms to the remaining households. The Census 2000 questionnaire will be easy to read and simple to fill out. The Census 2000 questionnaire that most people will get will ask about only seven subjects: name, sex, age, relationship, Hispanic origin, race, and housing tenure (whether home is owned or rented.) Nationwide, five out of six housing units will receive this short form. It will be the shortest short form in 180 years!

The longer form will ask about the same seven subjects plus 27 more, including education, ancestry, employment, disability and house heating fuel. One out of six housing units will receive a long form nationwide. In some rural areas, as many as every other housing unit may receive this long form — because a larger sample is needed to ensure that these towns and counties get the same detailed information as more densely populated areas.

This Is Your Future. Don’t Leave It Blank.

Census 2000 will help decision-makers understand which neighborhoods need new schools and which ones need greater services for the elderly. But they won’t be able to tell what your community needs if you and your neighbors don’t fill out your census forms and mail them back.