Since 1790, a census is taken every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau in order to determine the population of each state and the portion of how many House of Representatives members each state gets.

The census is a required government procedure sanctioned by Article 1, paragraph 2 of the Constitution. It consists of six questions: age, race, sex, whether a person is hispanic or not, whether someone owns or rents housing and how you’re related to the house owner.

Nicholas Nagle, an associate professor of geography, explained how this year, the decennial census will have a new format and is contracted with the National Academy of Sciences. The bureau has been working on ways to make the census process less expensive.

“The census is the most expensive civilian undertaking that the federal government does. … Every ten years they hire half a million people to do the census,” Nagle said. “This will be the first census done on the internet.”

The census being on the internet can help address some of the financial burdens of it. Although it is illegal for the census bureau to share individual data with the Department of Homeland Security or the IRS, there is still a concern about privacy.

“The concern is that people like banks or Facebook, who may have all kinds of other information about us, but they might not have race or whether or not your part of a same-sex couple,” Nagle said. “The concern is that maybe other people with a bunch of data could combine the census data with their own data to find out very specific information about individuals.”

This year’s census is trying to address these privacy concerns by adding noise to different areas within the state, so they may be adding additional random numbers to different blocks in order to protect individuals’ and households’ information. The Bureau won’t be adding noise to the overall state population.

“Places like the state of Tennessee use census data to allocate our sales tax back to cities, based on how big they are,” Nagle said. “We’ve seen small, rural towns with populations in the thousands, maybe it says they have 1500 people — so they might get a little more money than they’re supposed to.”

With this new type of privacy-centered approach to storing the data, we see an experimental “privacy-accuracy trade-off” occurring. This year will be the first in exploring these protective efforts.

University students renting are at risk of being undercounted, while those in on-campus housing are at risk of being over counted. The university automatically fills out the census for its residents, so students in dorms can be counted twice due to their parents counting them and the university counting them.

Jake Watkins, a staff lecturer of geography, commented on how certain people run the risks of being undercounted more than others, and this can limit the benefits of the census. Communities with low-income populations, communities with many renters and communities with high populations that don’t speak English as a first language are especially at risk of being undercounted.

“When it comes to renters, specifically, it is almost the same mentality as registering a permanent address, so if you don’t see yourself as a permanent resident, you are much less likely to fill that out even though it is fine,” Watkins said. “Wherever you fill it out is just a snapshot of where you were at this time.”

If you are in a temporary housing situation, filling out the census does not mean you are giving inaccurate data. There are services that students provide that future students may not get if there is an undercount.

“If students have a desire to stick around Knoxville, then it would be in their best interest to be counted right now if after they graduate, they want to get a job here and stick around,” Watkins said. “It would be in their best interest because then they will reap the benefits of those allocations.”

Having an accurate population count is important to making sure different areas get the money to provide all of the services people deserve.

Paired with different community surveys, the census data can be very beneficial for community leaders to address poverty-related issues. The census is also important, politically, for redistricting and drawing congressional districts.

Although some may choose to not participate in the census due to distrust of the government or unstable living arrangements, policy makers often look at census data as the basis for crafting policy. Participating in the decennial census can help provide accurate numbers for the communities you’re involved in to better receive services.

Everyone will receive an invitation to participate in the census by phone, mail or online on April 1. Learn more about how to respond here.