United States Census Bureau - Organizational Structure

Organizational Structure

See also: Director of the United States Census Bureau Post-2013 Pre-2013 and Post-2013 Census Bureau Regions

Since 1903, the official census-taking agency of the United States government has been the Bureau of the Census. The Census Bureau is headed by a Director, assisted by a Deputy Director and an Executive Staff composed of the associate directors. In April 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Robert M. Groves to head the Census Bureau.

The Census Bureau has had headquarters in Suitland, Maryland, since 1942. A new headquarters complex was completed in 2007 and supports over 4,000 employees. The Bureau operates regional offices in 12 cities: Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Kansas City, Seattle, Charlotte, Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, and Los Angeles. The National Processing Center is located in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Additional temporary processing facilities are used to facilitate the decennial census, which employs more than a million people. The cost of the 2000 Census was $4.5 billion. During the years just prior to the decennial census, parallel census offices, known as "Regional Census Centers" are opened in the field office cities. The decennial operations are carried out from these facilities. The Regional Census Centers oversee the openings and closings of smaller "Local Census Offices" within their collection jurisdictions. The estimated cost of the 2010 Census is $14.7 billion.

On January 1, 2013, the Census Bureau will consolidate its 12 regional offices into 6. Increasing costs of data collection, changes in survey management tools such as laptops and the increasing use of multi-modal surveys (i.e. internet, telephone, and in-person) has lead the Census Bureau to consolidate. The remaining regional offices will be located in: New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, and Los Angeles.

The Census Bureau also runs the Census Information Center cooperative program that involves 58 "national, regional, and local non-profit organizations." The CIC program aims to represent the interests of underserved communities.