Colorado Springs will no longer be one of the regions used by the U.S. Census Bureau as a test location ahead of the once-a-decade census in 2030.

The Census Bureau announced Monday that the 2026 census test would be pared back from six locations to two: Huntsville, Ala., and Spartanburg, S.C.

The bureau didn’t immediately respond to questions about why it dropped Colorado Springs from the Census Test. The Springs had been actively recruiting temporary census takers as recently as a few weeks ago.

The test is one of the small-scale efforts the Census Bureau uses to improve its methods to reach hard-to-count populations during the official census.

The six areas originally selected were chosen because they posed different challenges to getting an accurate population count. According to previous announcements, the bureau selected Colorado Springs as a test location because of the large number of residents living at military facilities and universities.

The Census Bureau also cited the amount of new construction in the city and a mix of places that had “comprehensive and minimal” previous records.

Mark Mather, an associate vice president at the Population Reference Bureau, a nonpartisan research group, said limiting the test to just two metro areas in the South would be “a step backward,” according to The Associated Press.

“The Census Bureau would be essentially flying blind into communities that need testing most — tribal lands, rural areas with limited connectivity and places with historically low response rates,” Mather said. “You can’t fix what you don’t test.”

Terri Ann Lowenthal, a former congressional staffer who consults on census issues, called the locale eliminations “an ominous sign for the 2030 Census.”

“The new plan for 2026 is unclear,” Lowenthal said.

The other areas removed by the Trump administration from the test were a section of the West Texas Panhandle, the tribal lands around Fort Apache Reservation in Arizona and the western counties of North Carolina.

Ahead of the last census in 2020, the only start-to-finish test of the head count was held in Providence, Rhode Island, in 2018. Plans for other tests were canceled because of a lack of funding from Congress.

The once-a-decade head count determines how many congressional seats and Electoral College votes each state gets. It also guides the distribution of $2.8 trillion in annual federal spending.

In addition to limiting the in-field aspect of this year’s test outreach, the bureau said it was also testing whether U.S. Postal Service workers can cover some of the work usually done by census takers.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.