The Trump administration is eliminating four out of the six locations that had been slated for a practice test to try out new methods for the 2030 census, raising concerns that the U.S. Census Bureau might not learn enough about communities that have been traditionally difficult to count.
The test, which started Monday, will be conducted only in Huntsville, Alabama, and Spartanburg, South Carolina, according to a notice submitted by the Commerce Department that will be formally published on Tuesday. The Commerce Department oversees the Census Bureau.
Four other sites — Colorado Springs, Colorado, tribal lands in Arizona, western North Carolina and western Texas — originally were included when the Census Bureau announced the locations in 2024.
