> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://lava.so/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Census

> U.S.

U.S. Census Bureau API providing population demographics, housing statistics, economic surveys, and geographic boundary data from the American Community Survey and decennial census. Best for demographic analysis, market sizing by geography, or enriching location data with population characteristics. The definitive source for U.S. population and housing data — unlike BLS (labor) or BEA (GDP), Census covers who lives where.

1 example endpoint available through Lava's AI Gateway. See the [Census API docs](https://www.census.gov/data/developers/about.html) for full documentation.

<Info>This provider is **managed** — no additional setup required.</Info>

<Info>This is a **catch-all provider** — any valid URL under `https://api.census.gov` is supported. U.S. Census Bureau API. Construct URL as [https://api.census.gov/data/\&#123;year\&#125;/\&#123;dataset\&#125;?get=\&#123;variables\&#125;\&for=\&#123;geography\&#125](https://api.census.gov/data/\&#123;year\&#125;/\&#123;dataset\&#125;?get=\&#123;variables\&#125;\&for=\&#123;geography\&#125);. Example: /data/2020/acs/acs5?get=NAME,B01001\_001E\&for=state:\*. Auth param (key) is added automatically. The endpoints below are curated examples.</Info>

## Endpoints

### Get American Community Survey data

**GET** `https://api.census.gov/data/2020/acs/acs5?get=NAME,B01001_001E&for=state:*` — Free

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="SDK">
    ```typescript theme={null}
    const data = await lava.gateway('https://api.census.gov/data/2020/acs/acs5?get=NAME,B01001_001E&for=state:*', { method: 'GET' });
    ```
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="cURL">
    ```bash theme={null}
    curl "https://api.lava.so/v1/forward?u=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.census.gov%2Fdata%2F2020%2Facs%2Facs5%3Fget%3DNAME%2CB01001_001E%26for%3Dstate%3A*" \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer $LAVA_SECRET_KEY"
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

## Next Steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="All Providers" icon="grid" href="/gateway/supported-providers">
    Browse all supported AI providers
  </Card>

  <Card title="Forward Proxy" icon="route" href="/gateway/forward-proxy">
    Learn how to construct proxy URLs and authenticate requests
  </Card>
</CardGroup>
