How does a de jure census count people differently from a de facto census?

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census A U.S. Census Bureau enumerator conducting a personal interview.

In the context of demography, the primary difference between a de jure and a de facto census lies in how they assign individuals to a specific geographic location during the enumeration process.1

De jure census: This method tallies individuals based on their regular or legal place of residence.1
De facto census: This method allocates individuals to the specific location where they are physically present at the time of enumeration, which is typically where they spend the night of the census day.1

Regardless of the method used, both approaches aim to capture the "nighttime population"—where people sleep—rather than their daytime locations, such as their places of employment. Both methods also rely on a fixed "census moment" to ensure precision, as the actual process of counting can span several days or weeks.1