Overview
- The Census Bureau cut planned 2026 test locations from six to two—Huntsville, Alabama, and Spartanburg, South Carolina—with only limited activities tied to counting residents.
- Officials said the trials will primarily evaluate using U.S. Postal Service personnel for tasks typically handled by census field workers.
- Test surveys will be offered only in English, drawing objections from data users and local-government groups concerned about missing immigrant and multilingual households.
- President Donald Trump has renewed calls to exclude undocumented residents from the count, and OMB is reviewing possible rollbacks to Biden-era race and ethnicity questions, including recognition of Middle Eastern and North African respondents.
- Researchers warn pared-back testing and recent 15–20% staff losses could skew funding distribution and redistricting, while the Commerce Department and the Census Bureau declined on-the-record comment.