The Census Project, a group of national, state and local organisations, wrote to Congressional appropriations leadership to submit a recommendation that the Census Bureau should receive $2bn in funding in the 2026 fiscal year.

The White House has proposed that the agency receives $1.675bn, an increase on the level allocated for this year.

The coalition wrote in its submission to Congress that; “[t]he Bureau received flat funding in Fiscal Years 2024 and 2025, making it even more imperative that Congress work with the Administration to reverse this trend. The Administration has requested a modest funding increase for the Census Bureau in FY 2026 – $1.675bn, which is approximately $294m above the agency’s FY 2024 and FY 2025 enacted funding level of $1.3825bn. Census stakeholders support no less than this amount in FY 2026, while recommending $2bn to support enhanced investments in key Census Bureau operations.”

In May, 44 members of the House signed a letter to its appropriations committee to ask for “the highest possible funding” for the census, while 21 senators also wrote to their respective appropriations leadership to support The Census Project’s recommendation of $2bn in funding. 

Ahead of the 2020 census, the Census Bureau cancelled field tests in rural areas and American Indian reservations.

Census Project co-director Mary Jo Mitchell said: “We should have learned a big lesson from 2020, when flat funding in the middle of the decade delayed or eliminated important tests that might have improved data from rural areas, small populations, and American Indian reservations.”

Census Project co-director Howard Fienberg added: “The old adage applies: A dollar spent on research and testing can help save as much as $10 later in the decade and improve coverage, data quality, or both.”