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.