TEXAS, USA — A focus on counting "historically undercounted populations" will bring the U.S. Census Bureau to Texas in 2026.
Officials say six places will host practice runs for the 2030 U.S. census.
Residents in West Texas, along with portions of Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, North Carolina and South Carolina, will be encouraged to fill out practice census questionnaires in the spring of 2026.
Officials say they're unsure how many people live in the areas that will be used for test runs, but hope the practice counts will help the bureau learn how to tally populations that were undercounted in the 2020 census. According to the Associated Press, the test runs will also help improve the methods to collect and process data ahead of 2030.
In 2018, Providence, Rhode Island, was the only place to complete a practice run. Other planned tests were canceled due to the lack of funding from Congress.
The AP reports that the Black population had a net undercount of 3.3% in the 2020 census. Hispanics had an undercount of almost 5%, and 5.6% for American Indians and Native Alaskans living on reservations. Meanwhile, Asians had a net overcount of 2.6% while non-Hispanic whites were overcounted by 1.6%.
“Our focus on hard-to-count and historically undercounted populations was a driver in the site selection,” said Tasha Boone, assistant director of decennial census programs at the Census Bureau.
The head count, which happens once every decade, helps determine how many congressional seats and Electoral College votes each state gets. It also guides how $2.8 trillion in annual federal spending gets distributed.