The U.S. Census Bureau announced on March 23 that it has selected Huntsville, Alabama, and Spartanburg, South Carolina as the new sites for its 2026 Census Test. The agency said these locations were chosen to help explore how collaboration with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) could improve census operations ahead of the next national count in 2030.
The test is significant because it will assess whether using postal workers can make census fieldwork more effective and efficient. It also aims to refine methods for reaching households that do not respond online, potentially reducing costs and improving accuracy for future censuses.
Starting May 1, about 154,600 households in both cities will be invited to answer questions online only—by computer, smartphone or tablet—in English. Phone and mail responses will not be available during this test period. The survey will use questions from the American Community Survey covering topics such as name, race, sex, citizenship and education; completion is expected to take around forty minutes per household.
From June through August, census takers—including specially trained postal workers—will visit homes that have not responded online. In Huntsville, USPS employees will work outside their regular hours as temporary Census Bureau staff at a rate of $19.75 per hour; they may visit homes evenings or weekends but identify solely as Census Bureau employees. In Spartanburg, postal workers will collect responses while delivering mail during their normal routes and remain in uniform as USPS employees paid at their usual rates.
All participating postal workers must pass background checks and receive special training on confidentiality requirements under federal law. About twenty-five postal workers—and an equal number of non-postal worker census takers—will participate at each site.
This pilot builds on existing cooperation between the agencies while testing innovations intended for broader use in the 2030 Census. The goal is to reduce follow-up visits by census takers—which could lower costs—and enhance response rates using local knowledge from postal carriers.
