Article 1 requires a census every 10 years, which helps determine House representation and the allocation of federal resources.
Article 1 of the United States Constitution mandates that a census be taken every 10 years. This decennial census is crucial for determining the number of representatives each state receives in the House of Representatives and how federal resources are allocated. The census counts the population within the United States and assesses where people live, playing a major role in the readjustment of congressional district boundaries—a process generally managed by individual state legislatures after the state's representative allocation is determined.