The U.S. Census Bureau announced on March 23 that it has changed the locations for its upcoming 2026 Census Test to Huntsville, Alabama, and Spartanburg, South Carolina. The new test sites are intended to help the bureau explore how working with the U.S. Postal Service could improve census response rates and refine in-field enumeration methods ahead of the 2030 Census.
Approximately 154,600 households in these two areas will be invited starting May 1 to participate online using computers, smartphones, or tablets. The test will not accept responses by phone or mail. Participants will answer questions similar to those found on the American Community Survey, covering topics such as name, race, sex, citizenship status, and education level. For households that do not respond online by themselves, a smaller set of questions will be asked during follow-up visits.
From June through August when data collection ends, census takers—including postal workers—may visit non-responding households in person to collect information. All responses are confidential and protected under federal law.
A key part of this test is a new collaboration between the Census Bureau and USPS aimed at evaluating whether postal workers can effectively gather census responses from households that do not self-respond. In Huntsville, postal workers will be hired as temporary employees of the Census Bureau to conduct visits outside their regular USPS work hours; they will identify only as Census Bureau staff during these duties. In Spartanburg, selected postal workers will integrate census data collection into their normal mail delivery routes while serving as USPS employees.
Postal workers involved in both pilots must pass background checks and receive special training on confidentiality requirements under Title 13 of U.S. law. Each site plans to use about 25 postal worker enumerators alongside an equal number of traditional non-postal census takers.
The bureau says this approach builds on its longstanding relationship with USPS while seeking ways to lower costs by reducing field workloads and minimizing repeat household visits during future censuses.
Results from this pilot program are expected to inform planning for innovations proposed for the nationwide count in 2030.
