United States census is an extensive nationwide information-gathering project conducted by the U.S. federal government. The U.S. Census Bureau, an agency of the Department of Commerce, conducts a census of population and housing every 10 years. Because of its 10-year cycle, the U.S. census is called a decennial census. The Census Bureau also conducts censuses of agriculture, which gather such information as the number of farms and farmworkers; governments, which collect information on units of local government; and economic activity, which collect data on the output and resources of various industries.