Trump administration proposes citizenship question in test for 2030 census

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FILE-Attendees stand for the Pledge of Allegiance during a swearing-in ceremony for new U.S. citizens in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

A field test for the 2030 Census may contain a question about citizenship under a proposed action by the Trump administration. 

The field test was created to give the Census Bureau the opportunity to gain experience in how to improve calculations of populations that were undercounted in the 2020 census, while enhancing practices that will be implemented in the 2030 form.

RELATED: Unmarried births decline nationwide over past decade, census data show

In August 2025, President Donald Trump directed the Commerce Department to have the Census Bureau begin work on a new census that would eliminate immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally from the population data.

Census citizenship test question 

Why you should care:

One of the questions listed on the American Community Survey asks, "Is this person a citizen of the United States?" The Associated Press reported that questions for the census aren’t supposed to ask about citizenship, and they haven’t for decades.

But the 14th Amendment states that "the whole number of persons in each state" should be counted for the numbers used to measure congressional seats, and Electoral College votes among the states, which is inferred to mean anyone living in the U.S., regardless of legal status.

The practice test for the 2030 census will be held at households in Huntsville, Alabama, and Spartanburg, South Carolina, and is using questions from the American Community Survey, a detailed survey of American life, instead of questions from recent census forms.

While citizenship status is one of the latest questions for the field test, NPR reported that the other questions on the form include inquiries about an individual’s income, whether their home has a bathtub or shower, and whether the house is connected to a public sewer.

According to the AP, the field test was scheduled to be held in six locations. However, the Trump administration announced that it removed four sites — Colorado Springs, Colorado, western North Carolina, western Texas, and tribal lands in Arizona.

During Trump’s first term in office, the Supreme Court blocked an attempt to add the citizenship question, and both orders were rejected when President Joe Biden started his term in the White House in January 2021, before the 2020 census figures were released.