On April 3, the White House released the initial details of its Fiscal Year 2027 budget proposal. The document indicates to Congress the President’s spending and policy priorities, but it is never enacted in its entirety. Instead, Congress uses the proposal to inform its deliberations as it considers the 12 appropriations bills that fund the federal government.
The budget is released in several parts, including tables and narratives, or congressional justifications, which provide additional details about the Administration’s request. As of April 7, the Census Bureau’s congressional justification had not been released. However, the tables that were released on April 3 revealed the Administration’s top line funding levels. Specifically, the Administration requested $2.01 billion for the U.S. Census Bureau in Fiscal Year 2027, which is $536.15 million more than the agency’s FY 2026 enacted funding level. Breaking the overall request down into the two accounts that fund the Bureau, the Current Surveys and Programs account would receive $288.5 million (approximately $31 million below its FY 2026 level), while the Periodic Census and Programs account would receive $1.723 billion (approximately $46 million above its FY 2026 level).
Language in the tables reiterates the Administration’s support for reorganizing the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the Census Bureau at the Department of Commerce.
The Census Project will release additional details and analysis once the Bureau’s congressional justification is released.
As a reminder, The Census Project, in its Fiscal Year 2027 funding recommendation, suggests the Census Bureau receive $2.1 billion.
