In 1790, approximately 650 U.S. Marshals were employed to conduct the census. Most recently, the 2020 Census employed approximately 500,000 enumerators. The chart on each of the Fast Facts page provides estimates of the number of census takers needed for each census, along with other census-related data.

The Census Bureau moved to Suitland, MD, in Spring 1942, so the Office of Price Administration (OPA) could move into the building it had previously occupied at Virginia Avenue and D Street in Washington, DC. At the time, the Roosevelt Administration and Census Bureau agreed it was critical to have the OPA's war-related operations close to Congress and the White House.

Noted authors, inventors, statisticians, politicians, geographers, and television personalities have worked at the Census Bureau. Learn more at the Notable Alumni Web page.

The Secretary of State oversaw the first censuses. By the mid-19th century, temporary census offices supervised the census as part of the Department of the Interior. In 1902, the Census Bureau became a permanent agency within the Department of Commerce and Labor. In 1913, it became part of the Department of Commerce upon its separate establishment.

The Census Bureau became a permanent agency within the Department of Commerce and Labor following passage of An Act to Provide for a Permanent Census Office in 1902. In 1913, in became part of the Department of Commerce upon its separate establishment.

The first censuses were loosely "supervised" by the Secretary of State. Temporary census offices under the Department of the Interior were headed by a "Superintendent of the Census" or other administrator. Since its establishment as a permanent agency in 1902, the U.S. Census Bureau has been overseen by a director. More information about the "head" of each census can be found at the Director Biographies Web page.