2010 United States Census
The 2010 census cost $13 billion. It cost about $42 per capita. To compare, the 2010 census per-capita cost for China was about US$1; for India, the cost was US$0.40. Operational costs were $5.4 billion, under the $7 billion budget. In December 2010 the Government Accountability Office (GAO) noted that the cost of doing the census has doubled each decade since 1970. In a detailed 2004 report to Congress, the GAO asked the Census Bureau to fix cost and design problems. They estimated the 2010 Census cost to be $11 billion.