Here’s a local update on responses to the 24th U.S. Census, now underway. According to the most recent report from Census officials, the City of Brier still leads the way both statewide and among cities in Snohomish County, with an 85.3% response rate. Edmonds has a 77.3% rate, with Mountlake Terrace at 71.9% and Lynnwood at 67.8%).Most Washington households responding — approximately 87% — have done so online at 2020census.gov, with the remainder either dialing the toll-free number or mailing back the paper questionnaire. This is higher than the national average use of 2020census.gov of about 80 percent.
With a 70.5% response rate, Seattle remains the second-best responding of the United States’ 50 largest municipalities. Louisville, Kentucky holds the top spot.
Households who have yet to respond can complete the 2020 Census online, by phone, or by mail. Households that do not respond to the census will receive a visit from a census taker who will help them respond.
The Census Bureau strongly encourages the public to respond online at 2020census.gov. Households can respond online in English or 12 other languages or by phone. Households can also respond by mail using the paper questionnaire.
As required by the U.S. Constitution, the once-a-decade census must count every person living in the United States. Census data are the basis for our democratic system of government, ensuring that representation in government is equally distributed. Census results shape the future of communities, as census data informs how billions of dollars in federal funds are distributed for health clinics, school lunch programs, disaster recovery initiatives and other critical programs and services for the next 10 years.
For more information, visit 2020census.gov.
Riddle me this…
How do they know the response rate…
if they need a census, too know how many people there are…
A response from Toby Nelson of the census bureau, who said it was an excellent question:
“There are two major, publicly-facing phases to the Census: Address Canvassing and Enumeration. Address Canvassing, which occurred in 2019, improves and refines the Census Bureau’s address list of households nationwide, which is necessary to deliver invitations to respond to the census. We use data from partners such as the U.S. Postal Service, satellite imagery, and approximately 35,000 field staff called Listers to produce the Master Address File, the Census Bureau’s official inventory of known living quarters in the United States. Once Address Canvassing is complete we know the number of living quarters or households in any given area, but not the number of people resident in each household. In March we began the process of Enumeration, which asks the heads of each household to respond to mailed invitations with the number of people living in their household, as well as some other basic information. This allows us to produce the constitutionally-mandated count of the nation’s population.”
Thank you