ANCHORAGE, Alaska—The 2020 Census kicks off Tuesday in remote Alaska. U.S. Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham will be there to conduct the first count in the Bering Sea community of Toksook Bay.
Why is the 2020 Census Starting in Alaska?
With its sparse population and subzero temperature, rural Alaska can be hard to reach, and some of its villages are accessible only when the ground is frozen. So, the Census Bureau starts the headcount in The Last Frontier state by going door-to-door in January—more than two months before the rest of the nation—so it can make sure it reaches villages before the spring thaw when residents head out to fish and hunt. The state’s heritage is traditionally on display during these first counts. In 2000, then–U.S. Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt arrived for the first count in the village of Unalakleet as a passenger in a dog sled. This year, Alaska Native dancers from Toksook Bay will perform.
A woman walks before dawn in Toksook Bay, Alaska, a mostly Yuip'ik village on the edge of the Bering Sea on Jan. 20, 2020. Gregory Bull/AP Photo
