Why is the census done?

Every ten years, the federal government is Constitutionally required to conduct a census of the population. Specifically, this activity is performed by the U.S. Census Bureau, part of the Department of Commerce. In addition to recording the number of individuals in the country, the census also collects numerous amounts of other information, including age, gender, race, ethnicity, housing status, income, etc. These data provide the denominators for population statistics.