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The U.S. Census Bureau carries out hundreds of surveys every year, but its' most well-known duty is the decennial census, which the United States has taken every 10 years since 1790.

Census results have several high profile applications. For example, they are used to reapportion seats in the House of Representatives; realign congressional districts; and factor in the formulas that distribute hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funds each year. Because of the importance of the decennial population count, procedural changes in the census often reflect larger organizational shifts at the Census Bureau.

This section follows the evolution of the decennial census by detailing the events surrounding each of them. Political and technological changes, and the shifting public demand for information, have all shaped the modern census and the mission of the Census Bureau.

This page provides national and regional data on the number of new housing units authorized by building permits; authorized, but not started; started; under construction; and completed. The data are for new, privately-owned housing units, excluding "HUD-code" manufactured (mobile) homes. The data are from the Building Permits Survey, and from the Survey of Construction (SOC), which is partially funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Local building permit data may be found on the Building Permits Survey webpage.