U.S. Bureau of the Census

Article 1, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution states that the population of the United States be counted every 10 years for the purposes of apportioning members of Congress and direct taxes to the states. From the first census in 1790 until the census of 1880, the federal judiciary, through the U.S. Marshals Service, was responsible for the census. In 1880, Congress established a separate census office in the Department of the Interior and in 1902 established the U.S. Census Bureau as a division of the Department of Commerce. The sole purpose of the Census Bureau is to collect data and compile statistical analyses about the people and other select entities of the United States. In addition to the decennial population census, the Census Bureau ...