This article appeared in the September/ October 2020 issue of Discover magazine as "A Census for the Stars" Subscribe for more stories like these.
Every 10 years, Americans undergo a familiar ritual: the U.S. census. Forms appear in the mail and workers start knocking on doors, all to get an accurate count of the U.S. population. The data collected provide a snapshot of the country, allowing officials to understand demographic changes in order to better allocate resources — and representatives to Congress — across the map.
