What information is legally required for the US Census?

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What Must I Answer on the US Census Form?

The U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 2, Clause 3, Sentence 2, reads:

"The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct."

What this specifically states is that an Enumeration (or a 'head-count' of the people as defined by the sentence preceding the above quoted sentence, and Amendment XIV, Section 2, of the Constitution) will be performed every ten years.

The final nine words (between the last comma and the period) are what this page was created to answer.

"...in such a Manner as they shall by Law direct."

The word 'Manner' means how the 'head-count' shall be performed.
The word 'they' refers to Congress, as mentioned in the first part of this Clause.
The word 'Law' is synonymous with Legislation.

Therefore, this Clause may be interpreted as follows:

Congress must count all persons in the United States every ten years in accordance with the Laws that have been enacted by Congress.

The Constitution does NOT limit the information that Congress may request in obtaining their Enumeration, except when that information might violate existing Amendments (i.e.: the IV Amendment (Illegal searches), or the V Amendment (Self incrimination)).

A census is potentially allowed to ask (as defined by Congress) race, age, gender and residency.

• Race shows what the ethnicity population or certain backgrounds is is areas.
• Age shows the age groups. It says the age range for the majority of the people.
• Gender shows sex. It shows the contrast between men and women.
• Residency shows how many people live in your house. If one person answered the questionnaire and there are 7 people living in the house and they weren't accounted for, that statistic wouldn't be accurate.

The 2010 US Census form contains 10 questions that should be filled out and mailed back to the government as soon as possible.

To find out what specific questions the Census is legally allowed to ask, and what questions you are legally obligated to answer, you would have to study Title 13 of the United States Code: This is the Instrument of Law that Congress has enacted, as the above sentence of the Constitution authorizes Congress to do, on how to carry out the Census, what questions may be asked, and the penalties may be levied against a person who fails to, or falsely, answers the questions in the Census.

Click on the link below for a Fantastic and simple video, by USCensus.gov, on how exactly a Census works and what you need to do on the 2010 Census:

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First answer by ID0406668177. Last edit by Wise Shannon. Contributor trust: 2 [recommend contributorrecommended]. Question popularity: 25 [recommend question].