A modern census has four key elements. It should be:
1. Universal
2. Simultaneous
3. Periodic
4. Individual
For a census to be universal, it must include everyone in the population being enumerated. Problems arise when attempting to count the homeless, minority males in poverty, and Native Americans, since these groups may not be living in conventional settings that are more easily enumerated.
There are two methods for enumerating a population: de facto, which allocates persons according to their location at the time of enumeration; and de jure, which assigns persons according to their usual place of residence. The United States uses a de jure enumeration because it provides a better indication of the permanent population and household composition of an area. For example, a professor who lives in Kenosha, Wisconsin may actually teach at a university in Chicago. On the day of a de facto census, she would be assigned to Chicago. If a de jure census were used, she would be assigned to Kenosha.
Census forms should be mailed simultaneously to people at their usual place of residence. The return date for the forms should be the same for everyone; however, some forms are returned late and individuals are sometimes interviewed after the official due date.
A census should be periodic. Counts should be made at regular intervals. As discussed earlier, the United States Constitution sets the frequency of our census at every ten years. The Census is now conducted as of April 30 of every Decennial census year.
Finally, in a modern census, the individual is counted and described. In the past,
women and slaves, for example, were not enumerated as individuals, but as belonging to the
white, male head of the household.
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