Robert Luis Santos (born 1957) is an American statistician who was the director of the United States Census Bureau 2022-2025.

After graduating from Holy Cross of San Antonio, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from Trinity University and a Master of Arts in statistics from the University of Michigan.

He is the first Latino person to serve as permanent, Senate-approved director of the Census Bureau (James F. Holmes, a Black man, was acting director of the Census Bureau in January-October 1998).

He was the 116th president of the American Statistical Association,[4] 2013-2014 president of the American Association of Public Opinion Research, and a member of the National Center for Health Statistics board of counselors.

[5][6] Santos was the vice president for statistical methods and chief methodologist at the Urban Institute[7] in Washington, D.C. Santos was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on November 4, 2021,[8] and was sworn in on January 5, 2022.