We hope you are aware of the 2020 Census and have already received an invitation to respond to a short questionnaire—online, by phone, or by mail—that was sent between March 12-20. Some of you – almost 48% of the nation, more than 70 million households – have already responded. (We did!)
But in case you somehow missed the deluge of advertising or have been distracted by the pandemic, here’s a reminder. The census is a decennial count mandated by the Constitution and conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, a nonpartisan government agency. The 2020 Census counts the population in the United States and five U.S. territories (Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands).
Because the Census Bureau was forced to temporarily suspend field data collection activities in March, Census officials (U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and U.S. Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham) asked Congress for an additional four months to complete the 2020 Census.
We spoke to Jeff Enos, U.S. Census Bureau Deputy Regional Director from his office, where he was working alone, earlier this month. At the time, Enos said he hoped they would still meet the statutory requirement to deliver the census to the president’s desk by December 31, 2020.
According to the Census, steps are already being taken to reactivate field offices beginning June 1, 2020, in preparation for the resumption of field data collection operations as quickly as possible following June 1. However, that’s all dependent on local officials allowing businesses to re-open.
In the meantime, Americans can do their part by completing the Census online (it’s the first time the census can be answered online). If you got an invitation in mail, like the one below, you can go to mycensus2020 and respond to a very short questionnaire about how many people live in your household. It generally takes 10 minutes to complete.
If you prefer, you can request a paper questionnaire by calling the Census toll free at 1-844-330-2020.
However you choose, please do fill out the census, if you haven’t already. It’s an essential tool that helps determine the allocation of congressional seats and federal funds.
“We want everyone to do it, it’s safe, the data is safe, it’s protected by Title 13 and cannot be shared with any other agencies,” explained Enos. “We don’t ask questions about citizenship or immigration status.”
Enos likened completing the census to voting.
“The Census is one of the pillars of our democracy, it’s nonpartisan and we need everyone to respond because the data that is collected is used at all levels of city, county, state and federal government.”
Since mid-March, when the invitations to respond were sent out, the response rate locally has been good, about 40 percent. Nationally, that number is closer to 48 percent. As of this week the response rate for the state of California is just over 50%.
The graphic below shows response rates by census tracts in Los Angeles. You can type your zip code into the search bar to see data from your census tract. The response rate for 90004 is 44.6 percent.
You can also sort the data by Congressional District. Parts of the Greater Wilshire area are served by three congressional districts: CD33 (Representative Ted Lieu), where the response rate is 46.1%; CD34 (Representative Jimmy Gomez), where the response rate is 33.8%, and CD37 (Representative Karen Bass), where the response rate 42.7%.
There’s also a page where the data is displayed as a table, listing highest to lowest response rates by state, county and city.
Enos is hoping the self-response rates get above 60 percent. To get the remaining 40 percent, the census will send out people, called enumerators, to knock on doors and gather the rest of the data, assuming it’s safe, given the stay-at-home orders. Enos and his staff will be hiring enumerators to start that work sometime in August, if all goes according to plan.
“We like to hire people who know the community – neighbors counting neighbors,” said Enos. “People are much more likely to talk to someone they know.”
Census enumerator jobs pay $25 an hour and last 6-10 weeks. For more information on working for the census, you can visit the census website.
So, if you have some free time, go online and complete the census. You can even do it as a family activity. My kids remember doing it ten years ago when we had to fill it out on paper. I, of course, don’t remember!
