Issue
In January 2025, the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey (HPS) was relaunched with a new longitudinal design as the Household Trends and Outlook Pulse Survey (HTOPS). HTOPS aims to continue to provide data on the social and economic impact of national events on U.S. households, including a variety of population subgroups. In February 2025, the Commerce Department issued a request for comments on proposed data collections for the March, April, and May HTOPS.
Impact
The HPS was the first Census Bureau survey to directly ask participants about their sexual orientation and gender identity. These questions in are a vital tool for examining the differences in social, economic, physical, and psychological well-being between LGBT and non-LGBT people. The Census Bureau has announced that it will not include gender identity questions in future versions of HTOPS, including the three collections in this comment request.
Summary
Scholars provide the Census Bureau with evidence demonstrating that both sexual orientation and gender identity are relevant and important considerations for the proposed collections. They present social science studies showing how this data collection corresponds with Census Bureau goals in assessing the impacts of current events on various subpopulations. In addition, they highlight evidence supporting the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity questions on federal surveys, as described in the 2022 recommendations from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.