Each month the Census Counts team compiles Census-related news from a wide swath of national and regional media outlets to keep data equity stakeholders informed and engaged.
As always, you can find earlier clips here.
August 25, 2025 Census Coalition Clips
National
The Hill | News Adults are now struggling to hit these 4 ‘milestones,’ Census says. Have you?
The five most common combinations of adulthood milestones among young adults today all include having a job. Most common among 2025’s young adults, comprising 28 percent of those between the ages of 25 and 34, is being a member of the labor force and living away from parents, according to Census data. The working paper also points to several factors that can impact your path to completing the common adulthood milestones today. Economic pressures and the desire to feel financially stable may shuffle your priorities, causing you to live with your parents longer and forego marriage, for example.
Addy Bink | August 24, 2025
The New York Times | News Immigrant Population in U.S. Drops for the First Time in Decades
For the first time in decades, more immigrants are leaving the United States than arriving, a new study finds, an early indication that President Trump’s hard-line immigration agenda is leading people to depart — whether through deportation or by choice. An analysis of new census data released on Thursday by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found that between January and June, the foreign-born population in the United States — both lawful and unlawful residents — declined by nearly 1.5 million. In June, the country was home to 51.9 million immigrants, down from 53.3 million six months earlier.
Miriam Jordan | August 21, 2025
States
California
Los Angeles Times | News To counter Texas, California lawmakers take up plan to redraw congressional districts
Lawmakers are widely expected this week to pass a legislative package calling for a special election in November that would redraw congressional districts to boost the number of Democrats in Congress. If voters approve the measure, it would go into effect only if another state such as Texas pursued mid-decade redistricting. Drawing of congressional maps would return to the voter-approved independent redistricting commission after the 2030 census.
Seema Mehta and Laura J. Nelson | August 18, 2025
Florida
NPR | News Florida League of Women Voters calls mid-decade GOP redistricting plan a ‘power grab’
The president of the League of Women Voters of Florida is warning state legislators not to embark on a mid-decade congressional redistricting plan, saying it’s unprecedented and goes against the 2010 “Fair Districts” constitutional amendment. Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez said earlier this month that he is setting up a select committee to look into redrawing congressional districts, as Republicans seek to keep control of Congress in 2026.
Sergio R. Bustos | August 18, 2025
Louisiana
Axios New Orleans | News Hurricane Katrina at 20: Here’s where New Orleans evacuees landed
When thousands of New Orleans homes flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the city lost more than half its population overnight. Why it matters: They went somewhere, and we’re finally getting a clearer idea of where they landed. The top experts for New Orleans demographic data point to the 2000 census as the best source for pre-Katrina figures, which pegs the population at 484,674 people in April 2000. New Orleans counted an estimated 230,172 residents in April 2006, the Data Center says, a loss of more than 250,000 people.
Chelsea Brasted | August 21, 2025
Blog Posts and Reports
U.S. Census Bureau | Press Release Census Bureau to Host Webinar and Embargo of 2024 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates
The U.S. Census Bureau is scheduled to hold a prerelease webinar about the 2024 American Community Survey (ACS) 1-year estimates set to be publicly released Sept. 11, 2025. The webinar will explain how to access data and resources from the ACS, and provide tips for comparing geographies and statistics over time.
Jewel Jordan | August 21, 2025
U.S. Census Bureau | Blog Source Data Innovation at the Census Bureau: Improving the Quality and Sustainability of Our Statistics
Our statistical products – like median household income or monthly retail sales – don’t just emerge out of thin air. Underlying all our data products are one or more sources of more detailed data from which we compute the statistics you see on our website or in the news media. The sources are typically responses to our household and business censuses and surveys or records on government or private-sector databases.
Ron S. Jarmin | August 19, 2025
August 18, 2025 Census Coalition Clips
National
NPR | News What we know about President Trump’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics
President Trump turned to the Heritage Foundation to help pick his appointee to lead a traditionally non-partisan agency. NPR’s Scott Detrow speaks with political science professor E.J. Fagan, author of “The Thinkers: The Rise of Partisan Think Tanks and the Polarization of American Politics” to understand why Trump’s close relationship with the conservative think tank matters.
Scott Detrow | August 17, 2025
CNBC | News Fewer young adults reach key life, money milestones — Census Bureau notes ‘significant drop’
Roughly 50 years ago, nearly half of all 25- to 34-year-olds had reached traditional benchmarks of adulthood, such as moving out of their parents’ home, getting married or having kids, according to a U.S. Census Bureau working paper. These days, less than a quarter of young adults have done the same. Compared to previous generations, the share of young adults reaching those four key benchmarks notched a “significant drop,” the Census statisticians found.
Jessica Dickler | August 15, 2025
National Review | News Remember, Mistakes in the 2020 Census Cost the GOP Several House Seats
Back in 2022 – during the Biden administration – the U.S. Census Bureau published the results from its 2020 “Post-Enumeration Survey,” showing population undercounts and overcounts by state. After the bureau finished the official census, it canvassed a large sampling of households across the country and then compared their answers to the actual responses from those households in the original 2020 Census. The bureau is quick to point out that “these statistical products cannot be used to change the final census count but are useful in assessing the current census, determining how best to estimate the population between now and 2030, and helping to improve future censuses.”
Jim Geraghty | August 13, 2025
Newsweek | News Is Donald Trump’s New Census Constitutional? Experts Weigh in
President Donald Trump is looking to change the way the U.S. Census Bureau collects data, wanting to exclude immigrants who are in the United States illegally. But several experts told Newsweek that excluding people living in the country without legal status from the head count used to allocate congressional seats among the states and determine how federal funding is distributed would run afoul of the U.S. Constitution.
Khaleda Rahman | August 13, 2025
1A | News Donald Trump wants to exclude noncitizens from the 2030 census
The U.S. undertakes the census every 10 years. It’s a massive project that counts everyone living in the country. And it informs funding and policy decisions. President Donald Trump wants to make big changes to the 2030 count – by excluding noncitizens. What a new census could mean for the country?
Lauren Hamilton | August 13, 2025
USA Today | News Census data show the immigrant population declining dramatically
The country’s immigrant population may have dropped by roughly 2 million people in the first six months of the year, according to new government data. The new data offer an early – if imperfect – signal that President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown may already be showing an impact. Steven Camarota, director of research at the right-leaning Center for Immigration Studies, said the estimated decline of 2.2 million foreign-born people in the Current Population Survey was the largest such drop in a single year in three decades.
Lauren Villagran | August 13, 2025
Politico | News Data wonks warn of lasting damage as Trump weighs shake-up of government statistics collection
President Donald Trump is ramping up his attacks on the vast network of government data collection, leaving some statisticians and demographers worried the president is undermining the short- and long-term credibility of federal data. Trump’s announcement of a mid-decade census on Thursday came less than a week after he fired Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner Erika McEntarfer following the release of a jobs report that painted an unfavorable picture of the economy. Paul Schroeder, executive director of the Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics — a membership organization that includes research and data organizations that rely on federal data — said employees at the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and other federal statistics agencies are feeling the effects of Trump’s attempts to politicize their work.
Aaron Pellish | August 12, 2025
States
Minnesota
Minnesota Star Tribune | News State pushes against federal demands for access to personal data of Minnesotans
The Trump administration is requesting a trove of personal information from Minnesota government agencies about the state’s residents, including Social Security numbers, addresses and voter registration records. The requests are part of a national push from the White House to access data that is currently only held by the states. An executive order issued in March instructs agencies to ensure the federal government has “unfettered access to comprehensive data from all state programs that receive federal funding,” which it said would help it stop waste, fraud and abuse. So far, Minnesota’s state agencies have largely resisted the federal government’s requests. State officials say they worry the administration will use some of the data to find individuals to target for deportation.
Allison Kite and Nathaniel Minor | August 15, 2025
Florida
Washington Examiner | News DeSantis says Obama and Holder gerrymandered ‘brutally’ in most recent census
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) accused former President Barack Obama and former Attorney General Eric Holder of “brutally” gerrymandering the country in the most recent U.S. census. The topic of redistricting has been at the national forefront since Texas unveiled an aggressive plan to strip the Democrats of five congressional seats, threatening a nationwide gerrymandering arms race. In an appearance on Fox News’s Hannity, DeSantis blamed the state of affairs on the Obama administration, alleging wrongdoing in its alleged influence on the 2020 census.
Brady Knox | August 13, 2025
Blog Posts and Reports
National Urban League | Toolkit The American Community Survey Impacts Our Communities—Make Sure We’re Counted!
The National Urban League is proud to share the release of our American Community Survey (ACS) Toolkit, developed to raise awareness and increase participation in this vital survey. The ACS is more than just data—it’s a roadmap for equity. Conducted annually by the U.S. Census Bureau, the ACS helps determine how over $1.5 trillion in federal funding is distributed across the country. From education, broadband, and housing to healthcare, disaster response, and job training—Black communities deserve accurate representation and equitable resources.
Isaiah Hall | August 18, 2025
U.S. Census Bureau | Press Release Business Trends and Outlook Survey Data Release
The U.S. Census Bureau today released new data products from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), a survey that measures business conditions and projections on an ongoing basis. The BTOS includes data for multiunit/multilocation businesses. BTOS will continue to collect data complementary to key items found on other economic surveys, such as revenues, employees, hours, and inventories.
Julie Iriondo | August 14, 2025
U.S. Census Bureau | Press Release Business Formation Statistics Monthly Data Release
The U.S. Census Bureau today released new Business Formation Statistics (BFS) for July 2025. The BFS provide timely and high frequency information on new business applications and formations in the United States. The BFS are a standard data product of the Census Bureau, developed in research collaboration with economists affiliated with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the University of Maryland, and the University of Notre Dame.
Julie Iriondo | August 13, 2025
August 11, 2025 Census Coalition Clips
National
Zoombangla | News US Census Counts 53.3 Million Foreign-Born Residents Amid Citizenship Debate
The face of America is changing at a record pace. This summer, official U.S. government data revealed a landmark figure: 53.3 million foreign-born residents now call the country home, representing nearly 16% of the total population. Within this group, approximately 15.8 million live without legal permission, marking a sharp increase of over 8 million arrivals since early 2021. These unprecedented demographic shifts are fueling a fierce national debate over a fundamental pillar of American democracy: who gets counted in the once-a-decade U.S. census, which determines political power and federal funding for the next ten years.
International Desk | August 10, 2025
MSNBC | News Trump’s demand for a new census is unconstitutional — and impossible
On Thursday, President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he is ordering the Commerce Department to work on a new census that would exclude “persons who are illegally in our Country illegally.” It’s often difficult to know from a social media post what Trump intends. But the president seems to be asking for a mid-decade census that would not count undocumented immigrants. There are just two problems with that idea: It is unconstitutional, and it is logistically impossible.
Michael P. McDonald | August 8, 2025
NPR | News Trump wants a new U.S. census to exclude people here illegally. It’d be unprecedented
With preparations for the 2030 census already underway, President Trump said Thursday he has instructed his administration to start work on a “new” census. According to a social media post by Trump, that census would exclude millions of people living in the country without legal status — an unprecedented change to how the country has conducted population tallies since the first U.S. census in 1790.
Hansi Lo Wang | August 7, 2025
The New York Times | News Trump Demands Census Excluding Undocumented Immigrants Amid Redistricting Fight
President Trump said on Thursday that he had ordered the Commerce Department to begin work on a new census that excludes undocumented immigrants, as he and his allies press Republican-led states to redraw their congressional maps to benefit the party. A new census would be a significant departure from a process stipulated by the Constitution to occur every 10 years. Historically, the census has counted all U.S. residents regardless of their immigration status, a process that helps determine both the allotment of congressional seats and billions of dollars in federal money sent to states.
Tyler Pager | August 7, 2025
The Enterprise | News GOP pushes census senselessness to rig elections
Republican lawmakers push for a new census counting only citizens to redraw House districts, a move critics say is unconstitutional and aimed at securing partisan advantage in future elections. One problem with the idea: It’s wholly, completely and unquestionably illegal. According to Article I, Section 2 of the “Supreme Law of the Land,” the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution requires the census to be conducted once within every 10-year period after 1790. It’s already been conducted for this period. An “interim re-do” would not be a valid census.
Thomas L. Knapp | August 4, 2025
National Review | News Lutnick Disbanded Statistical Task Force Working to Improve Survey Response Rates
Trump is mad about inaccurate jobs reports. One of the top reasons the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ jobs reports have been more error-prone in recent years is that the response rate to one of its most important surveys fell off a cliff during Covid and has not recovered. The Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee (FESAC) was a team of unpaid statistical experts that was working to solve the issue of low response rates, among other things. FESAC was disbanded in February by Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.
Dominic Pino | August 1, 2025
The New York Times | News States Have More Data About You Than the Feds Do. Trump Wants to See It.
As the Trump administration has sought to amass personally sensitive data on millions of individuals in America, it has run into one roadblock. The states, and not the federal government, hold many of the details Washington officials would now like to see. The states administer many safety-net programs funded with federal dollars. They run elections and register voters. They track employers and individual workers. That means they hold a clearer, more recent portrait of where to find people, what needs they have and who lives with them.
Emily Badger | August 1, 2025
Outside the Beltway | News Texas Gerrymandering Could Set Off Game of Tit for Tat
Redistricting usually happens after the once-a-decade population count by the U.S. Census Bureau or in response to a court ruling. Now, Texas Republicans want to break that tradition — and other states could follow suit. President Trump has asked the Texas Legislature to create districts, in time for next year’s midterm elections, that will send five more Republicans to Washington and make it harder for Democrats to regain the majority and blunt his agenda. Other states are waiting to see what Texas does and whether to follow suit.
James Joyner | July 27, 2025
States
New York
Amsterdam News | News Pols: Black and Brown NYers at Risk from Project 2025 in Coming Census
President Trump’s administration has already started chipping away at the 2030 Census, using Project 2025, the playbook of far-right and racist policies that aims to overhaul the country and reshape governmental infrastructure. However, Black political leaders want to get ahead of it before people in New York State — particularly its Black and Brown population — are left disenfranchised and endangered.
Ariama C. Long | July 7, 2025
Blog Posts and Reports
The Leadership Conference | Press Release The Census Must Not Be Weaponized for Political Gain
Excluding noncitizens or undocumented individuals from the census contradicts the principles of the 14th Amendment and turns the census into a tool for political gerrymandering. This approach is a blatant attempt to intimidate communities who are already underrepresented in census data. It will erode trust in the safety and accuracy of census information and discourage participation across all communities, ultimately diminishing the significance of representation.
Rachel Hooper | August 7, 2025
U.S. Census Bureau | Blog The Census Bureau’s Business Ecosystem: How We’re Leveraging New Tools and Methods to Strengthen Our Statistics
On the surface, the job of a statistical agency like the U.S. Census Bureau is deceptively simple: gather some data, compute interesting statistics from that data, and release them to the public. Of course, it’s not that simple. The data you download from our website or API and the statistics you see cited in the media result from a complex set of interactions between people, software and systems. At the Census Bureau, we refer to the software and systems we use to gather, process and disseminate data as our Business Ecosystem (BE). In this blog, I want to update you on how we’re evolving the BE to better measure our dynamic population and economy.
Ron S. Jarmin | August 4, 2025
U.S. Census Bureau | Press Release Annual Integrated Economic Survey Releases First Dataset
The U.S. Census Bureau today released preliminary estimates from the Annual Integrated Economic Survey (AIES), which provides key measures of economic activity, including the only comprehensive national and subnational data on business revenues, expenses and assets on an annual basis. The AIES is one of the Census Bureau’s newest surveys, designed to replace and integrate seven different annual business surveys into a single survey. AIES data can be used to track economic trends, assess industry performance, support policy development, and inform economic planning, resource allocation, and market research.
Jewel Jordan | July 31, 2025
U.S. Census Bureau | Press Release Business Trends and Outlook Survey Data Release
The U.S. Census Bureau today released new data products from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), a survey that measures business conditions and projections on an ongoing basis. The BTOS includes data for multiunit/multilocation businesses. BTOS will continue to collect data complementary to key items found on other economic surveys, such as revenues, employees, hours, and inventories.
Julie Iriondo | July 31, 2025
U.S. Census Bureau | Press Release Uninsured Rates Down in 194 Counties, Up in 85 Counties
The rate of individuals in the United States under the age of 65 without health insurance decreased in 194 counties and increased in 85 counties between 2022 and 2023, according to Small Area Health Insurance Estimates (SAHIE) released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. SAHIE is the only source for single-year estimates of people under age 65 with health insurance in each of the nation’s 3,143 counties. The county statistics are provided by sex and age groups and at income levels reflecting thresholds for state and federal assistance programs, such as Medicaid eligibility. State estimates also include health coverage by race and Hispanic origin.
Veronica Vaquer | July 31, 2025
