Data collection for Phase 3.6 of the Household Pulse Survey started on September 14, 2022 and is scheduled to continue until November 14, 2022. Phase 3.6 will continue with a two-weeks on, two-weeks off collection and dissemination approach.

The U.S. Census Bureau, in collaboration with multiple federal agencies, is in a unique position to produce data on the social and economic effects of coronavirus on American households. The Household Pulse Survey is designed to deploy quickly and efficiently, collecting data to measure household experiences during the coronavirus pandemic. Data will be disseminated in near real-time to inform federal and state response and recovery planning.

If you have been invited to participate in the survey, find more information here.

The Household Pulse Survey continues measuring how the coronavirus pandemic is impacting households across the country from a social and economic perspective.

Phase 3.6 includes new questions on the ability to carry out day-to-day activities due to experiencing long COVID, non-parental childcare arrangements and costs of childcare, changes in transportation behaviors due to cost of gas, a series of questions regarding access to infant formula, and inflation and changes in behavior due to increasing prices.  Questions on K-12 enrollment and educational catch-up activities will be reinstated for Phase 3.6.

The HPS continues measuring core demographic household characteristics, as well as continuing to ask questions about COVID-19 vaccinations, education, employment, food sufficiency, household spending, household energy expenditures and consumption, housing security, physical and mental health, rental assistance from state and local governments, sexual orientation and gender identity, and transportation.

The HPS continues to be a collaborative undertaking and is fielded in partnership with the following federal agencies:

• Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
• Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS)
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)
• Department of Defense (DOD)
• Energy Information Administration (EIA)
• Department of Health and Human Services (HHS/ASPE)
• Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
• Food and Drug Administration
• Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB)
• National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
• National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)
• National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• USDA Economic Research Service (ERS)
• USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS)
• The White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA)
• The White House Domestic Policy Council (DPC)

The data collected will enable the Census Bureau to produce statistics at the national and state levels and for the 15 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (metro areas).

Data collection for Phase 3.6 of the Household Pulse Survey started on September 14, 2022 and is scheduled to continue until November 14, 2022. Phase 3.6 will continue with a two-weeks on, two-weeks off collection and dissemination approach, with data releases scheduled for October 5, October 26, and November 23, 2022.

Data collection for Phase 3.5 of the Household Pulse Survey started on June 1, 2022 and ended on August 8, 2022. 

Data collection for Phase 3.4 of the Household Pulse Survey started on March 2, 2022 and ended on May 9, 2022. 

Data collection for Phase 3.3 of the Household Pulse Survey began December 1, 2021 and ended on February 7, 2022.

Data collection for Phase 3.2 of the Household Pulse Survey began July 21, 2021 and ended on October 11, 2021.

Data collection for Phase 3.1 of the Household Pulse Survey began on April 14, 2021 and ended on July 5, 2021. 

Data collection for Phase 3 of the Household Pulse Survey began on October 28, 2020 and ended March 29, 2021.

Data collection for Phase 2 of the Household Pulse Survey began on August 19, 2020 and ended October 26, 2020.

Data collection for Phase 1 of the Household Pulse Survey began on April 23, 2020 and ended on July 21, 2020.

The Census Bureau and its federal statistical partners are considered the preeminent source of the nation's most important benchmark surveys.  Many of these surveys have been ongoing for more than 80 years and provide valuable insight on social and economic trends. 

The production of these benchmark surveys is by nature a highly deliberative process.  While efforts are underway to introduce COVID-19 questions into some of these surveys, that process can take months, sometimes years, before data are made publicly available.  

The approach for the Household Pulse Survey is different: it is designed to be a short-turnaround instrument that provides valuable data to aid in the pandemic recovery. The Census Bureau is fielding the Household Pulse Survey as a part of the agency’s Experimental Data Series; as such, data products may not meet some of the Census Bureau’s statistical quality standards. Data are subject to suppression based on overall response and disclosure avoidance thresholds.