ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The first people to be counted in the 2020 U.S. Census live in a Yupik village on the Bering Sea in southwest Alaska.
Acting U.S. Census Bureau Director Ron Jarmin announced Friday that Toksook (TOOK-sook) Bay will be the first community counted for the census that occurs every 10 years.
Toksook Bay is 512 miles (825 kilometers) west of Anchorage.
Many of the 673 residents support themselves by commercial fishing or traditional subsistence activities such as harvesting fish, game animals, berries and other natural resources.
The Census Bureau starts counting early in remote Alaska villages.
Jarmin says the bureau gets a head start while the ground and rivers are still frozen, allowing better access to homes.
Census takers will travel to Toksook Bay in January 2020.
