If you see someone walking through your neighborhood with a laptop, it could be someone from the U.S. Census Bureau. Through October 18, employees will canvas neighborhoods to verify addresses. They’ll have an official government badge with photo I.D., an official bag and an official laptop with the 2020 Census logo. According to the Southwest Missouri Council of Governments (SMCOG), the canvassers will attempt to knock on every door in the neighborhoods in which they are working.
The organization said "it’s critical to have a complete master address list so the Census Bureau can reach every person living in the country and invite them to respond to the 2020 Census."
If you have questions about the individuals conducting the canvassing in your neighborhood, contact the Chicago Regional Census Center at 312-579-1500. More detailed information on how to identify a Census Employee can be found online at the 2020 Census Website.
Here's how the Census Bureau builds the master address list, according to Southwest Missouri Counts:
- By working with the US Postal Service – this decade, more than 5.3 million new addresses were added using data from the USPS.
- By validating more than 106 million addresses using information from tribal, state, and local governments.
- Conducting the address canvassing operation. In the past, the Census Bureau would wait until the end of the decade to do most of this work. In preparation for the 2010 Census, the Bureau hired 150,000 people to walk around every block in the nation. But in preparation for the 2020 Census, the Bureau will only hire 40,000 In-Field Address Canvassing workers as 65% of the 140 million households in the U.S. were validated in-office using satellite imagery.
You can see where In-Field Canvassing will occur by using this interactive, online map.
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