Addressing the 2010 Census

The 2010 Census is about ten months away (April 1, 2010) but preparation has been ongoing for years. One of the most critical aspects of counting everyone in the United States is to locate all housing units. To do this, the Census Bureau updates its Master Address File several ways. In Kentucky, as in all states, local and state governments help do this by reviewing addresses in their jurisdictions and participating in the Local Update of Census Addresses. Additionally, from March 2009 until mid-July 2009, the Bureau is employing 140,000 workers whose goal is to locate and verify every residential address in the country, all 145 million of them. This is obviously a huge undertaking, and this year the workers are using GPS devices to improve their data collection.

“A complete and accurate address list is the cornerstone of a successful census,” said Tom Mesenbourg, acting director of the U.S. Census Bureau. “Building on the achievements of the 2000 Census, we have been testing and preparing for the 2010 count all decade, and we’re ready to fulfill our constitutional mandate to count everyone living in the United States . . .
The primary goal of the census is to count everyone once, only once, and in the right place”

There is a slick two-page PDF summary about the Address Canvasing you can read at this link.
So now that you have read this, don't be too surprised if a canvasser knocks on your door to verify the address and find out if you added a mother-in-law suite above your garage. Mother-in-laws need to be counted too, after all.