Census Seeks OK to Poll Parents on Kids' Health Again
Published Date: 3/31/2025
Notice
Summary
The U.S. Census Bureau is updating its National Survey of Children's Health, asking about 127,000 families to share info on kids’ health and well-being. This helps health agencies track how children are doing across the country. The survey takes about 40 minutes per family, and the public has 30 more days to comment before final approval.
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 1 costs, 0 mixed.
Survey time: ~40–41 minutes per household
If your household has eligible children, the National Survey of Children's Health asks one adult to complete a screener (about 5 minutes) and a topical questionnaire (about 35–36 minutes), for a total of about 40–41 minutes per household. The Census Bureau estimates total burden hours of 42,863 across an expected 126,703 respondents.
Most sampled households get a $5 cash incentive
The Census Bureau will include a $5 unconditional cash incentive with the initial screener and topical invitations for 90% of sampled addresses; 10% of sampled addresses serve as a control group and will not receive the $5. The incentive is used to increase response and monitor effectiveness each cycle.
Paper questionnaires sent to 30% of sample
About 30% of the sampled addresses identified by a block group-level paper-only response probability will be sent a paper questionnaire in the initial mailing and in each nonresponse follow-up instead of a web invitation.
Web nonresponders may get incentive envelope test
The 2025 survey will test a web-targeted secondary unconditional screener incentive envelope sent to a subset of respondents who started the web questionnaire but did not finish; the test compares envelope and delivery methods (FedEx vs. visible incentive envelope via USPS).
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Key Dates
Department and Agencies
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