Have you checked your mail this past couple of weeks? Did you find a 6 X 10 inch envelope from the U.S. Census Bureau simply addressed “TO RESIDENT AT”? The fact that this official government document is not personally addressed to YOU may prompt you to think that this is junk mail. It is not. The point of not personalizing the addressee line is to reach every person residing in every single abode. The last census was taken in 2000. How many addresses have you had in the past 10 years? Where were you living in 2000? (for me that was three addresses ago)You see what I mean?

Ok, let’s get to the meat of this topic.

• Fact: Your domicile was or will be sent by First Class U.S. Mail a Census Form.

• Fact: Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution specifies that the number of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives is to be distributed proportionally among the states on the basis of the census to be conducted every 10 years.

• Fact: The 2010 Census Form is one of the shortest in history: just 10 questions that only take about 10 minutes to answer.

• Fact: If a completed census form is not returned from your address, a U.S. Census Field Representative will visit your domicile and attempt to obtain an accurate count of the number of people living at your address.

Now let’s assume for argument sake that you don’t complete the form and a U.S. Census Field Representative comes to your door. Remember, if you don’t send back your form, you may receive a visit from a census taker. If a census taker visits you, here’s what you should do:

• First ask to see their ID. All census workers carry official government badges marked with just their name; they may also have a “U.S. Census Bureau” bag. Click here for more info.

• Note that the census taker will never ask to enter your home

• If you’re still not certain about their identity, please call the Regional Census Center – to confirm they are employed by the Census Bureau

• Answer the census form questions for your entire household (you must be at least 15 years old to answer questions) so that the census taker can record the results for submission to the Census Bureau

Follow this link for the list of questions that the Census Worker will ask you.

Above Information Provided by the US Census Bureau.

I think you get the picture, but allow me to add some fun to this process. You might want to take some time, no matter your age, and learn a little more about the U.S. Census.

For those of you with school age children this can be a real learning experience. You may want to visit Ancestry.com and get a free trial membership. You can then search for U.S. Census Reports that document your grandparents, parents, etc.

For example, I never knew my grandparents. Both of my parents were born in 1918. This means that the first time my parents were counted was the 1920 census. Below you will see the census reports for 1920, town of Denton, Montana (2000 census population 301) for my father, Joseph Eagen, and town of Butte, Montana (2000 census population 33,892) for my mother, Marie Lynch. The story goes on…