By Emily Wood
 
February 12, 2010
 
MEDFORD, Ore. - Next month people across the country will be receiving forms for the United States Census.
 
Census forms will be mailed out March 15th and should be returned by April 1st.
 
The census counts how many people live in the U.S. It wants to know how many people live in your household, if your home is owned, mortgaged or rented. The form will also ask for your phone number, sex, age, date of birth and race. Census workers say the form takes about 10 minutes to fill out.
 
The census helps the government allocate $400 billion to local communities based on population for things like roads, schools and hospitals.
 
If the government does not receive your form by April 1st, a Census official will come to your home to have you fill it out.
 
"Each person brings in about $1,400 to their community per year. So if we miss 10 people, only 10, you're talking about $14,000 in one year, $140,000 in 10 years," said Mary Watts with the U.S. Census Bureau.
 
On Friday afternoon Census Bureau set up outside Thunderbird Market in West Medford to answer questions about the census.
 
Census numbers are also used for political representation and district alignment. That means if Oregon were to get a large enough increase in population, the state could get a sixth U.S. representative.