shouldiuse.io

VERDICT

Should I use Census.gov?

The Census Bureau's mission is to serve as the nation's leading provider of quality data about its people and economy. - census.gov

Worth it. Use it if you need authoritative US demographic or economic data — it is free and canonical. Do not treat it as a vendor product: there are no support SLAs, and the site is a maze; go straight to data.census.gov.

Confidence

Medium. Based on 30+ public sources: official Census pages, security reporting, shutdown advisories, and Reddit user threads.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

$0

Public data access

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes

Best for

  • Market researchers
  • Site-selection and expansion planning
  • Policy and grant writers
  • Journalists and academics

Not for

  • Anyone expecting vendor support, onboarding, or SLAs
  • Real-time data needs — releases lag months or years
  • Teams wanting polished point-and-click analytics
  • Buyers comparing commercial demographics vendors — this is not one

Gotchas - check before you buy

medium

No SLAs or account management; support is phone lines and a help center

medium

.gov has a steep learning curve; budget time or watch their webinars

medium

Scam impersonations are common; verify the domain before answering surveys

low

Government shutdowns can pause data releases and help resources

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Authoritative, canonical source for US population and economic data
  • Completely free, including ACS tables, summary files, and APIs
  • Census data guides over $2.8 trillion in federal funding
  • Free training webinars, help center, and guided walkthroughs

Cons

  • Navigation is a maze; users need tutorials to find basic tables
  • Disclosed breaches in 2015 and 2020 dented public trust
  • Survey mailings are constantly mistaken for scams
  • Data releases stall during federal government shutdowns

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/20/2026 - 12 sources - Mixed: routine patching disclosed, but two breaches (2015, 2020) and a CSWeb CVE are on record.

official x4review x3security x4news x1
  • January 2020 breach, Hackers breached Census Bureau systems in January 2020; reporting indicates leaked data.
  • 2015 IT security incident, Bureau disclosed a 2015 security incident via a Director's blog update.
  • CVE-2025-60946 — CSWeb path traversal, Path traversal vulnerability in Census CSWeb disclosed March 2026.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 12

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Free, canonical data — unbeatable value
  • Ease of use: 2/5. Maze-like; tutorials and webinars required
  • Feature depth: 5/5. Decades of surveys, tables, APIs
  • Support quality: 2/5. Phone lines and help center only
  • Security posture: 2/5. Two breaches disclosed; CSWeb CVE
  • $0 Price All public data products
  • Yes Free tier Tables, summary files, APIs
  • $2.8T+ Federal funding guided Per 2023 Census Bureau estimate
  • 1902 Established Permanent Census Bureau

Pricing

Public data access

$0

  • ACS, decennial, and economic tables
  • Bulk downloads and summary files
  • Developer APIs with free key

Security

Mixed: routine patching disclosed, but two breaches (2015, 2020) and a CSWeb CVE are on record.

  • January 2020 breachHackers breached Census Bureau systems in January 2020; reporting indicates leaked data.⁵
  • 2015 IT security incidentBureau disclosed a 2015 security incident via a Director's blog update.⁸
  • CVE-2025-60946 — CSWeb path traversalPath traversal vulnerability in Census CSWeb disclosed March 2026.⁷

What users say

Reddit users consistently confirm Census Bureau surveys and mailings are legitimate, though many initially mistake them for scams.

“Yes legit. Go on census.”
Reddit, r/Census
“Yep, it's legit.”
Reddit, r/Census
Full analysis

Based on 30+ public sources: official Census pages, security reporting, shutdown advisories, and Reddit user threads.

Free, authoritative US data — but hard to navigate. Use data.census.gov or Census Reporter, not the homepage maze.

Methodology

Based on 30+ public sources: official Census pages, security reporting, shutdown advisories, and Reddit user threads.

Sources

  1. Census.gov Homepagecensus.gov
    official
  2. Census Bureau Data (data.census.gov)data.census.gov
    official
  3. Our Surveys & Programscensus.gov
    official
  4. Census Bureau Data Guide More Than $2.8 Trillion in Federal Fundscensus.gov
    official
  5. Hackers breached US Census Bureau in January 2020therecord.media
    security
  6. U.S. Census Bureau Confirms Data Breachsecurityweek.com
    security
  7. CVE-2025-60946: Census CSWeb Path Traversalsentinelone.com
    security
  8. Update on the Census Bureau's IT Security Incident (2015)census.gov
    security
  9. Navigating the Federal Shutdown: Tips for Data Userstnsdc.utk.edu
    news
  10. Census legit? — Reddit r/Censusreddit.com
    review
  11. Is this a scam. American community survey — Reddit r/Censusreddit.com
    review
  12. US Census research guide (GWU Libraries)libguides.gwu.edu
    review

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