The Twenty-third United States Census will be the next national census in the United States. The census has been conducted every 10 years since 1790, as required by the United States Constitution, with the previous one completed in 2000.

Major changes

• The Census Bureau will no longer use a separate long form for the 2010 Census. In previous censuses, one in six households received this more detailed form asking for detailed social and economic information. The 2010 Census will use only a short-form asking basic questions, such as name, gender, age, date of birth, race, ethnicity, relationship, and housing tenure.http://2010.census.gov/2010census/about_2010_census/007622.html Some individuals have raised privacy concerns over providing this additional personal information.

• Detailed socioeconomic information collected during past censuses will continue to be collected through the American Community Survey. The survey provides data about communities in the United States on a yearly basis rather than once every 10 years. A small percentage of the population on a rotating basis will receive the survey each year, and no household will receive it more than once every five years.

Cost

The Government Accountability Office estimated in 2004 that the cost of the census could climb to over $11 billion. In a detailed report to Congress, it called on the Census Bureau to address cost and design issues.
Lockheed Martin won a six-year, $500 million contract to capture and standardize data for the census. The contract includes systems, facilities, and staffing for about a quarter of the projected $11.3 billion cost of the decennial census. This will be the first census to use hand-held computing devices with GPS capability. Unlike the 2000 census, an Internet response option will not be offered.

Same-sex marriage

In June 2009, the U.S. Census Bureau announced it would count same-sex married couples. However, technical problems with current Census software may affect whether they are included in the census as "married" or whether they will be listed as "unmarried partners."http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2009/07/08/technical-issues-mean-2010-us-census-may-not-count-gay-married-couples/ , six states – Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont – allow marriages between partners of any sex combination to be performed by the state. In addition, 18,000 same-sex couples in California were married in 2008. Also, New York and the District of Columbia (pending court challenge) recognize marriages between partners of the same sex performed in other states as legal.

Developments

Interracial and multiracial categories will be used in a United States Census for the first time in 2010.

In April, 2009, the Census Bureau announced that it intended to work with community organizations in an effort to count all illegal immigrants in the United States for the census. In September, 2009, after undercover exposé videos of questionable activities by staff of one of these community organizations were made public, the partnership of ACORN in the 2010 United States Census was terminated.

2012 election

The results of the 2010 census will determine the number of seats each state receives in the United States House of Representatives starting with the 2012 elections. Consequently, this will also affect the number of votes that states receive in the Electoral College for the 2012 presidential election.

Projections

One projection for changes in representation in the House of Representatives based on 2000-2008 growth rate from the Census Bureau's population estimates are as follows:
Probable gainers

Probable losers

Other possible changes include California losing a seat, and North Carolina gaining one. In addition, Florida may gain only one seat, rather than two, and Oregon may gain a seat.

Controversy

The 2010 census has garnered the attention of conspiracy theorists, many focusing on the use of GPS devices by census workers. On September 12, 2009, 51-year-old census worker Bill Sparkman was found hanged in Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky with the word "fed" written on his chest.