A major census test faces cutbacks — with postal workers tapped to help count

The Trump administration is scaling back plans for this year’s field test of the 2030 census, raising concerns about the Census Bureau’s ability to produce a reliable population tally for redistributing political representation and federal funding in the next decade.

The 2026 test was designed to help the bureau improve the accuracy of the country’s upcoming once-a-decade head count. A mix of communities in six states, as well as a national sample of households, was expected to take part in the experiment.

But the agency is now set to reduce the number of test sites to two — Spartanburg, S.C., and Huntsville, Ala. — while adding plans to try replacing temporary census workers with U.S. Postal Service staff, according to a Federal Register notice that was made available for public inspection Monday before its official publication.

The bureau is also cutting a plan to provide Spanish- and Chinese-language versions of the census test’s online form, which is now set to only be available in English.

Spokespeople for the bureau and its parent agency, the Commerce Department, did not immediately respond to NPR’s questions, including about what prompted these changes and whether counting for the test is still scheduled to start in March. In a statement Monday announcing the “launch of the 2026 Census Test,” the bureau said it “remains committed to conducting the most accurate count in history for the 2030 Census and looks forward to the continued partnership with local communities.”

Among the locations no longer part of the census test are rural communities in western Texas and Indigenous tribal lands within Arizona and North Carolina. Those include the Fort Apache Reservation, home to the White Mountain Apache Tribe; San Carlos Reservation, home to the San Carlos Apache Tribe; and the Qualla Boundary, home to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

Terri Ann Lowenthal — a census consultant, who was once staff director of a former congressional subcommittee on the national count — calls this development on the road to the 2030 census “disheartening.”

“The descoped 2026 test plan is confusing and unclear to the public — a product, regrettably, of the administration pulling a black-out shade over all planning for 2030,” Lowenthal says in a statement. “Equally troubling, we already know from the last census that not fully evaluating promising new methods and improved operations, for example in rural areas and on American Indian reservations, can lead to a less accurate count in many communities.”

The cutbacks to the test come after the bureau has refused to update lawmakers in Congress charged with overseeing its work and after the administration disbanded all of the bureau’s committees of outside advisers, which previously received periodic briefings on 2030 census planning during public meetings.

Over the past year, the bureau, which is the federal government’s largest statistical agency, has also had multiple departures of experienced staff as part of the Trump administration’s slashing of the federal workforce.

Preparations for this census test have already suffered from delays in raising public awareness and finalizing a staffing plan, partly due to uncertain funding from Congress. And the bureau had been waiting for months for a White House agency to approve a plan to contact administrators of college dorms, nursing homes and other group-living quarters to get ready for counting. The bureau’s Monday announcement about its revised test plan makes no mention of group quarters.

Bringing on Postal Service workers to help conduct the census test is expected to raise a raft of questions among both advocates of the count and USPS. A 2011 Government Accountability Office report found that replacing temporary census workers with higher-paid mail carriers is not cost-effective. Still, such a move has had the vocal support of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who has claimed it could save the government money.

USPS spokesperson Albert Ruiz referred NPR’s questions, including whether postal workers would be expected to work for the census test in addition to their regular jobs, to the Commerce Department.

“The United States Postal Service looks forward to participating in the 2026 Operational Test in Support of the 2030 Census,” Ruiz added.

Edited by Benjamin Swasey