Still Time To Respond To 2020 Census And Help Your Community's Funding And Representation

As of Oct. 5, 2020, 99.7% percent of housing units have been accounted for so far in the 2020 Census through either self-response or Nonresponse Followup. Final numbers indicate that in 2010 a little over 99.6 percent of households were counted this way. 

The U.S. Constitution mandates that a census be taken every 10 years to count all people—both citizens and noncitizens—living in the United States.

“We thank our nearly 400,000 national and community partners, all working as trusted voices to encourage people to respond, either with their neighborhood census taker, online, over the phone, or on paper,” said Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham. 

“Please join us in urging every household to respond when a census taker visits or to respond online at 2020Census.gov, by phone at 844-330-2020, or by mail.

The results of the Census, taken every 10 years, reapportions seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, helps redraw congressional, state, and local district boundaries, and determines the amount of funding that state governments and local communities receive from the federal government for the next decade. Governments and nonprofit organizations rely on decennial census data to determine the need for new roads, hospitals, schools, and other public sector investments.

It is important for everyone to respond to the Census to get the most accurate information possible. For example, when a particular household does not respond, neighbors might be asked for information, or other sources might be employed to estimate data for those who don't respond.

Genealogy researchers, and individuals can use the census data to add to family trees, although the individual information about each person is private for 70 years. Information currently is available for persons in the 1940 census, for example, and individual personal information from the 1950 census will be available in 2021. 

“This is a tremendous accomplishment, and the women and men of the U.S. Census Bureau, including their thousands of temporary workers in every community across the country, should be tremendously proud,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “We are committed to a complete and accurate count of every community across this Nation.”

Enumeration in 25 states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico are nearly complete, with their total response rates at or above 99.9%. Eight additional states are at 99.8% complete. Only six states remain below 99% complete, with five of those above 98%.