The nonprofit Espacios Abiertos, through its PRCuenta initiative, is urging citizens, Puerto Rico’s 78 municipalities, businesses, researchers, elected officials and community organizations to submit public comments on proposed changes the US Census Bureau has made for the 2030 Census, published September 10. The proposal would change the criteria for where a person is counted, prohibit questions on race and ethnicity, including the 'Puerto Rican' checkbox, and alter the treatment of certain non-citizens for apportioning US House seats.
Espacios Abiertos warns the changes could affect how Puerto Ricans are counted, federal funding allocation, electoral district mapping, and planning for health, education, housing, infrastructure and disaster recovery. Although Puerto Rico does not participate in federal House apportionment, the changes would affect the 5.8 million Puerto Ricans in the diaspora. Specific concerns include the use of tax records as proof of residence (many island residents file only with the Treasury Department, not federally), differences between mailing addresses and actual residences, mobility rules for people splitting time between Puerto Rico and the states between January 3 and April 1, and the loss of racial and Puerto Rican-origin data.
Economist José Caraballo Cueto cited a 28-percentage-point gap between reported employment and actual work in low-income San Juan communities. Comments are due November 2, 2026 at regulations.gov, docket USBC-2026-0628; a template is at prcuenta.com.