Every 10 years, the United States Census Bureau completes its count of every person living in the country.

The census determines congressional representation, helps determine how federal funds flow into states and provides information that will impact communities for the next decade.

Starting in mid-March, most people should have received mail from the U.S. Census Bureau. These letters contains each household’s Census ID number, which can be used when filling out the census online at my2020census.gov.

Filling out the census questionnaire takes less than 10 minutes and can easily be done from the comfort of one’s home online, by phone or mail.

The information provided will impact each community in Illinois every day — from influencing highway planning to determining how money is allocated to public school programs.