The 2026 Census Test is the bureau’s next major test to prepare for the 2030 census. The bureau planned in-field operations at multiple sites to evaluate new and enhanced processes and methods for improving the design of the census, and bureau officials stated that they used a new, innovative data-driven process to select the test sites.
Our objective was to assess the bureau’s test site selection methodology. However, the bureau could not provide supporting documentation of the judgments, methodologies, and assumptions used to plan, execute, and provide oversight of the selection process. As a result, we could not verify how the bureau selected the sites.
Without establishing a formal, documented methodology as a solid foundation, as specified by its own statistical quality standards, the bureau risks inefficiencies or suboptimal site selections that could compromise overall readiness for the 2030 census and beyond. We made two recommendations to the bureau to strengthen its processes for reviewing and documenting site selections for future census tests.
