Overview
- Regulatory filings show the 2026 field test would use an American Community Survey questionnaire that includes a citizenship question.
- The trial is scheduled for April through September in Huntsville, Alabama, and Spartanburg, South Carolina, covering about 155,000 households.
- The Bureau cut the test from six sites to two, dropping planned locations in Colorado, western North Carolina, western Texas, and tribal lands in Arizona.
- Census research and outside experts warn a citizenship question can lower response rates in immigrant and mixed‑status households, risking undercounts that affect representation and funding.
- The move follows President Trump's directive to develop a new census as GOP lawsuits and bills seek to exclude noncitizens from apportionment, despite the 14th Amendment's requirement to count the whole number of persons.