Ocean City Emphasizes Census Participation

OCEAN CITY, NJ — Census data is pivotal for allocating billions in federal funding. That's why the City has emphasized citizen participation.

Here's what you need to know.

Timeline

• March 12 - 20: Households will begin receiving official Census Bureau mail with detailed information on how to respond to the 2020 Census online, by phone, or by mail. You may respond immediately.
• April 1: Census Day is observed nationwide. By this date, every home will receive an invitation to participate in the 2020 Census. Once the invitation arrives, you should respond for your home in one of three ways: online, by phone, or by mail. When you respond to the census, you'll tell the Census Bureau where you live as of April 1, 2020.
• April: Census takers will begin visiting college students who live on campus, people living in senior centers, and others who live among large groups of people. Census takers also begin conducting quality check interviews to help ensure an accurate count.
• May to July: Census takers will begin visiting homes that have not responded to the 2020 Census to help make sure everyone is counted.
• December: The Census Bureau will deliver apportionment counts to the President and Congress as required by law.

How

By April 1, every home will receive an invitation to participate in the 2020 Census. You can respond online, by phone or by mail.

In mid-March, households will begin receiving official Census Bureau mail with detailed information on how to respond to the 2020 Census. A brief questionnaire will ask questions about who lives in your household.

Who

If you are filling out the census for your home, you should count everyone who is living there as of April 1, 2020. This includes any friends or family members who are living and sleeping there most of the time. If someone is staying in your home on April 1, and has no usual home elsewhere, you should count them in your response to the 2020 Census.

Be sure to count roommates, young children, newborns and anyone who is renting a space in your home. These people are often missed in the census. It is important to remember to count any children who are living with you. This includes:

• all children who live in your home, including foster children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews and the children of friends — even if they are living with you temporarily.
• children who split their time between homes, if they are living with you on April 1.
• newborn babies, even those who are born on April 1, or who are still in the hospital on this date.

THE CONCEPT OF USUAL RESIDENCE: The Census Act of 1790 established the concept of “usual residence” as the main principle in determining where people should be counted, and this concept has been followed in all subsequent censuses. “Usual residence” has been defined as the place where a person lives and sleeps most of the time. This place is not necessarily the same as the person's voting residence or legal residence.

PEOPLE WHO LIVE OR STAY IN MORE THAN ONE PLACE: For the 2020 Census, the Census Bureau will retain the proposed residence situation guidance for people who live or stay in more than one place. People who travel seasonally between residences (e.g., snowbirds or shore homeowners) will be counted at the residence where they live and sleep most of the time. If they cannot determine a place where they live most of the time, they will be counted where they are staying on Census Day.

FOREIGN CITIZENS IN THE UNITED STATES: Foreign citizens are considered to be “living” in the United States if, at the time of the census, they are living and sleeping most of the time at a residence in the United States.

HEALTH CARE FACILITIES: The Census will count facilities serving long-term residents or patients who live and sleep at the facility most of the time.

COLLEGE AND BOARDING SCHOOL STUDENTS: The Census Bureau has historically counted boarding school students at their parental home, and will continue doing so because of the students' age and dependency on their parents, and the likelihood that they will return to their parents' residence when they are not attending their boarding school.

MILITARY PERSONNEL: The Census will make a distinction between personnel who are deployed overseas and those who are stationed or assigned overseas. Deployments are typically short in duration, and the deployed personnel will be returning to their usual residence where they are stationed or assigned in the United States after their temporary deployment ends. Personnel stationed or assigned overseas generally remain overseas for longer periods of time and often do not return to the previous stateside location from which they left. Therefore, counting deployed personnel at their usual residence in the United States follows the standard interpretation of the residence criteria to count people at their usual residence if they are temporarily away for work purposes.

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