U.S. Census Bureau field workers set to visit Aurora homes for special census

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The online reporting period for the Aurora special census has ended, and residents in certain areas of the city can expect U.S. Census Bureau field workers to be knocking on doors in their neighborhood beginning in mid-September.

The special census is focused only around certain areas that have been recently developed, city officials have said. Officials are urging residents to participate in the special census, claiming that a perceived undercount in the 2020 census has led to the city losing over $4.3 million per year in shared tax revenue,

The U.S. Census Bureau field representatives plan to visit houses that did not respond to the special census online or that did not receive mailed materials, according to a spokesperson for the bureau.

In addition to these households, field representatives will be visiting households to verify and update the Census Bureau’s current address lists, according to the spokesperson.

Visits are brief and typically take about 10 minutes, officials said.

The field representatives will ask residents in-person the same special census questions asked online, U.S. Census Bureau officials said.

The field workers will be carrying a valid U.S. Census Bureau ID that includes their name, photo,      Department of Commerce watermark and expiration date, according to officials. They will also have an official Census Bureau‑issued bag marked with the agency logo.

These representatives will never ask for sensitive information such as a Social Security number, bank account details or passwords, according to officials.

City officials are urging residents to open their doors and participate in the special census, as doing so could increase city revenue, officials said.

The response rate for the online portion of the census was 22%, city officials said recently.

Part of the response issue, said Aurora Mayor John Laesch, was that some households in the areas taking part in the special census did not receive letters with instructions to complete the census online. The Census Bureau field workers are also working to count those households, he said.

“Please open your door,” Laesch said. “They’re not selling anything. They just want to make sure you get counted in the census.”

Information gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau is confidential and not disclosed with law enforcement, including federal immigration and customs enforcement, Laesch said.

Information on citizenship is not collected during special census data collection, according to U.S. Census Bureau officials, and responses are safe, secure and protected by federal law.

The city requested the special census after officials felt that Aurora was undercounted in the 2020 decennial census and that new construction and development in the city was left out. The census that year reported that Aurora had lost around 17,000 residents compared to the 2010 census, according to a city press release in late July.

City officials have claimed that the perceived undercount has led to the city losing over $4.3 million per year in shared tax revenue.

While the city can’t recover lost funds from past years, officials have said the special census could help close that funding gap going forward by adding recently developed areas to Aurora’s total population count.

The special census was delayed in 2025 in part due to feedback from local organizations that warned people against opening their doors or speaking to anyone working for the federal government, given fears over the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.

City officials have previously stated that data collected through the special census is legally protected, and is only for statistical use. There will not be a question about citizenship, officials said.

The 2025 special census effort was also paused by the U.S. Census Bureau due to a change in federal leadership, city officials have said.

For more information on the 2026 Aurora special census, along with an interactive tool to determine if a specific home falls within the special census boundaries, go to www.aurora.il.us/SpecialCensus.

Once the special census is complete, results will be shared with the city and posted on the Special Census Program webpage in accordance with established Census Bureau processes, said U.S. Census Bureau officials.

awright@chicagotribune.com