The administration has sharply scaled back plans for the 2026 field test that is meant to help shape the 2030 census, prompting concerns about whether the Census Bureau can develop reliable methods for the next decennial count. Instead of a mix of sites across six states plus a national household sample, the bureau now intends to limit testing to two locations: Huntsville, Ala., and Spartanburg, S.C., and to explore using U.S. Postal Service employees in place of temporary census hires, according to a Federal Register notice released for public inspection.
The revised plan also eliminates Spanish- and Chinese-language versions of the test’s online questionnaire; the form will be offered only in English. The bureau’s website says households can begin responding in the spring and that nonresponding addresses may receive in-person visits by either census staff or postal workers. The Census Bureau and the Commerce Department had not immediately answered questions about the reasons for the changes. In announcing the start of the 2026 test, the bureau reiterated its commitment to delivering an accurate 2030 count and said it looks forward to continued local partnerships.
Several rural areas and Indigenous tribal lands that were scheduled to participate are now excluded. Dropped sites include rural communities in western Texas and tribal lands in Arizona and North Carolina: the Fort Apache Reservation (White Mountain Apache Tribe), the San Carlos Reservation (San Carlos Apache Tribe) and the Qualla Boundary (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians). Plans for testing in group-living quarters such as college dorms and nursing homes are also absent from the revised proposal.
Advocates and former officials warned the narrowed test could undermine efforts to refine methods for hard-to-count populations. Terri Ann Lowenthal, a census consultant and former congressional staff director, called the changes “disheartening,” saying the reduced scope and lack of public clarity risk leaving important methods unexamined—particularly for rural areas and reservations—potentially producing less accurate counts in future censuses.
Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), the top Democrat overseeing the bureau on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said he was “alarmed” and urged the bureau to restore the original six-site plan, stressing that less accurate counts harm communities that rely on federal resources. The move follows the administration’s disbanding of the bureau’s outside advisory committees and a period during which the agency declined to update congressional overseers; the bureau has also experienced multiple departures of experienced staff amid broader reductions in the federal workforce.
Local leaders told the National League of Cities they only learned of the cancellations after months without updates. Dante Moreno, who lobbies for local governments, said the new emphasis on online responses raises practical problems for rural areas that lack reliable internet or cellular service and for households that are widely dispersed, making it harder to ensure everyone is counted.
Native leaders and advocates echoed these concerns, emphasizing language assistance and the federal trust responsibility to tribes. Saundra Mitrovich of the Native American Rights Fund and co-leader of the Natives Count Coalition highlighted the prevalence of language needs in many Native communities and questioned whether the revised plan will adequately engage tribes or uphold trust obligations.
Bringing Postal Service employees into census operations has drawn scrutiny from both advocates and the USPS. A 2011 Government Accountability Office review found that using higher-paid mail carriers instead of lower-paid temporary census workers was not cost-effective. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has voiced public support for leveraging postal workers, arguing it could save money. The USPS directed questions about how postal employees would be used, and whether duties would be in addition to their regular responsibilities, to the Commerce Department; USPS spokesperson Albert Ruiz said the Postal Service looks forward to participating in the 2026 operational test.
The bureau’s public notice and website provide limited detail about staffing and outreach plans. Preparations have been slowed by funding uncertainties in Congress and delays securing approvals to contact administrators of group-living facilities. Critics say the narrowing of the test, the language cutbacks, and reduced site diversity risk leaving unresolved operational questions that are critical to producing an accurate 2030 census, especially for rural, tribal, and other hard-to-count communities.