About the Census The United States Constitution mandates a decennial census to count every person residing in the country. The census is designed and executed by the U.S. Census Bureau, with goals to distribute federal funding, draw legislative districts, and influence future development.
Investment Governments, businesses, and the nonprofit community guide investment decisions using census data. In FY2016, New York received $73,300,580,954 through 55 federal spending programs for roads and bridges, public schools, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food Stamps), the National School Lunch Program, Section 8 Housing, Head Start, and the Community Development Block Grants. Here is an explanation of how Census funding impacts federal spending programs in NYS.