Yes, federal law says you must answer this US Census Bureau survey, but in reality you can refuse

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Every 10 years, the U.S. Census Bureau is required to conduct a census to determine the number of people living in the country. 

But VERIFY viewer Denise D. of St. Petersburg said she recently received a letter claiming to be from the Census Bureau for something called the “American Community Survey,” which she thought could be a scam.

She was alarmed that the notice stated her response was required by law or risk facing fines or prosecution.

THE QUESTION

Is the American Community Survey legitimate and are you legally required to fill it out?

THE SOURCES

• U.S. Census Bureau
• United States Code
• Congressional records

THE ANSWER

Yes, the American Community Survey is legitimate and you are legally required to fill it out. However, the U.S. Census Bureau says nobody has been prosecuted for failing to respond to the survey since the 1970s.

WHAT WE FOUND

For decades, lawmakers and the U.S. Census Bureau debated how to balance accurate data and timeliness. 

In 1940, the census included separate questionnaires to count the population and collect housing data. But the process changed in 1960 when the Bureau combined population and housing questions into a single questionnaire that was mailed to households or completed during a census taker's visit. 

The Census Bureau changed the process again between 1970 and 2000, this time randomly distributing a shorter survey to most households and a more in-depth survey to others, the agency said. 

In 2005, the Census Bureau launched the American Community Survey (ACS). It is now considered the nation's largest household survey. Each year, the Census Bureau contacts over 3.5 million U.S. households to participate in the ACS by phone, mail, online or in person. 

The survey, which gathers more in-depth data than the traditional census is sent monthly to one in every 480 homes in the U.S. It includes questions about a household’s education, employment, homeownership and income. 

You are legally required to respond. There are three laws that the U.S. Census Bureau cites online.

The fine for refusing to answer a bureau survey can be as much as $5,000.

But to date, nobody has been fined for failing to participate because the bureau is not in the business of prosecuting people who don’t comply, bureau spokesperson Rosa Vasquez told 10 Tampa Bay in an email.

She also confirms no one has been prosecuted for failing to respond to a survey since the 1970 census.

Data shows the overwhelming majority of people who receive the American Community Survey do respond. Since 2011, as many as 97 percent of those surveyed responded in some years, though rates dipped in 2020. 

The rate of those outright refusing to respond has slowly been ticking up since 2011, reaching a high of 8.6 percent in 2021.

If you were contacted about taking the survey, but have concerns about the authenticity of the request, there are ways to verify its legitimacy. 

On its Top Questions About the Survey webpage, the Census Bureau says if your household has been contacted to complete the ACS and you would like to verify that the survey is legitimate, you can call 1-800-354-7271.

If a Census field representative has visited your address, and you would like to verify that the visit is legitimate, you can call your Census Regional Office. You can also confirm that the person is a Census Bureau employee by entering their name into the Census Bureau Staff Search. The Census Bureau says their field staff will always show a valid Census Bureau ID and a copy of the letter they sent you.

The Census Bureau conducts more than 130 surveys and programs annually, including the Household Pulse Survey on COVID-19. You can visit the Census Bureau’s website to verify whether a letter, text message or link claiming to be from the Census Bureau is real. 

VERIFYs Erin Jones, Mauricio Chamberlin & Brandon Lewis contributed to this report