2020 Census response rate
Bottom Line: By now you’ve had mailers sent to you. Ads on radio and TV targeting you and after a pandemic pause in door to door solicitation, if you haven’t turned in your Census form, masked workers will likely be making their way to your home next. Based on the news reporting on this topic you’d likely be led to think the response rate has been low and they’ll be dire consequences to your community if response rates aren’t dramatically improved. As always there remain two sides to stories and one side to facts. And yet again, the notion that Census response rates are especially low due to the pandemic, is little more than narrative. Here’s the final Census response rate from the prior two Census surveys:
2000:
- US: 67.4%
- Florida: 63%
2010:
- US: 66.5%
- Florida: 63%
So where are we with five months left in the year?
2020 thru July:
- US: 63%
- Florida: 60%
With 42% of the year left, response rates are only about 3% below the typical response rate for the entire year. We’re clearly pacing well despite the pandemic and will likely exceed the response rates of the previous two Census surveys at a minimum. I do encourage everyone to participate in the survey, it is a Constitutionally important process for determining representation in Congress and the Electoral College. I do also wish news reporting on the subject included context but then again, this topic is the least of my concerns in that regard.