Mass. census partners outline LUCA, MAD and local steps to improve 2030 count

Chairman Brownsberger convened the Senate Committee on the Census on Sept. 22, 2025, to review Massachusetts preparations for the 2030 decennial census and the Local Update of Census Addresses (LUCA) and related programs.

The hearing brought together Secretary of the Commonwealth staff, the UMass Donahue Institute, MassGIS and clerks and local officials from communities including Watertown, Worcester, Cambridge, Belmont and Groton to discuss timelines, tools and local responsibilities for ensuring a complete address list ahead of the 2030 enumeration.

"I think you're right to point out, senator, that although the census itself is 5 years away, the work more or less never stops and indeed is now picking up as we head into the final 5 years," John Rosenberry of the Secretary of the Commonwealth's office told the committee as he described the state's role in outreach and the block boundary suggestion project. Rosenberry said the Secretary's office will receive block-boundary submissions from municipalities — a first formal step for many communities in the decennial cycle — and will perform a final review before the state submits them to the Census Bureau.

UMass Donahue Institute program manager Susan Strait described LUCA as the early opportunity for municipalities to check the Census Bureau's master address file. "LUCA is an opportunity for states, tribes, and local governments to review and improve the Census bureau's master address list prior to the actual census count," Strait said, outlining the LUCA timeline she expects for this decade: invitations and training in early 2027, a 180‑day review window beginning mid‑2027, feedback and an appeals…