The 2020 Census will research on-base housing lists both overseas and stateside to count service members as full-time residents at their home stations, Military.com reported.
Stateside service members will be counted as residents where they are physically stationed while overseas service members will be counted as residents at their last stateside location, according to the report.
“We’ve been working with the Department of Defense to build a strong housing list for housing units included on military bases” to get an accurate count, said Deirdre Bishop, chief of the geography division at the U.S. Census Bureau during a conference call.
The count will further aid the Census in determining how funds for federal programs are apportioned by congressional district and to tally voters for legislative redistricting purposes, according to the report.
The 2020 Census determination of how service members and their families are counted will not impact their official home of record or state residencies, however.
Earlier this year the Census faced concerns that DOD security restrictions could limit the count of overseas service members, impacting representation at their home stations.
However, Bishop said overseas service members will be included in the Census count.
“We will be counting those who live on bases stateside and overseas. They will count not only for apportionment but for legislative redistricting,” Bishop said.