GREENFIELD — Although there is still a dispute at the national level about when exactly the deadline will be for this year’s U.S. Census, the vast majority of Hoosiers have already responded with their household information.
“More than 99% percent of households at this point have been counted, but our goal is 100%,” said Timothy Swarens, an Indiana-based media specialist for the U.S. Census Bureau.
In Hancock County, more than two-thirds of people responded to the census themselves, without a door-to-door visit being required.
The census is conducted once every 10 years and serves a number of purposes, including calculating federal funding for many programs and drawing the boundaries of districts for the House of Representatives.
In August, census takers headed into the field to count those who had not responded via other means. That effort has been successful, with the response rate in Indiana standing at 99.5% as of Sept. 28.
The response rate for the nation as a whole is 97.9%.
The Indiana self-response rate, representing those who responded to the census themselves via mail, phone, or online rather than being approached by a census taker, is 70%. That’s higher than the national self-response rate of 66.5%, and it’s similar to the number from 2010, the last time a census was conducted, when the self-response rate was 69.6%.
The Internet was a major mode of census completion for Indiana residents this year, with 53.8% of residents filling out the survey online.
Hancock County is ahead of the state as a whole, with a total self-response rate of 78.5% and an online self-response rate of 68.4%. The county’s self-response rate in 2010 was 76.2%.
Total response rates are not available on a county level.
Greenfield has a self-response rate of 76.6% and an Internet self-response rate of 65.1%.
Donna Butler is the head of Greenfield’s Complete Count Committee, which worked to make sure all residents responded to the census. She said the committee has concluded most of its activities, though it is continuing to post on social media.
Butler said the Greenfield community has an impressive self-response rate.
"I think our presence on social media, constantly reminding people to get counted and why it’s important to get counted, helped," she said.
People who have not yet responded to the census and haven’t received a visit from a census taker can still respond online at 2020censu.gov, by phone at (in English) 844-330-2020 or (in Spanish) 844-468-2020, or by returning the paper questionnaire that was mailed to their home.
When exactly the deadline for responding to the census will be is still in debate. Most recently, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who oversees the U.S. Census Bureau, said the deadline will be Oct. 5.
The census deadline, originally announced for the spring, was pushed back to Oct. 30 in response to COVID-19 and then moved again to Sept. 30. A federal judge ruled that the September deadline would not allow for an accurate count. On Sept. 29, the judge questioned the reasoning behind the Oct. 5 date and suggested it might violate the spirit of her ruling, leaving the matter of when exactly the count will end still up in the air.
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The U.S. Census is a short survey asking a few questions about the number of people living in each home and the age, race and sex of each person. It is conducted every 10 years. All information is kept private.
The census is used:
–By the U.S. government to help decide what share of federal funding communities receive for schools, roads, hospitals and more
–By local governments to make plans for public safety and emergency preparedness
–By companies and developers to determine where to build new homes and businesses
–To determine the number of seats each state will have in the U.S. House of Representatives and to draw districts for the Indiana Legislature
If you have not yet responded to the census, you can do so by going online to 2020census.gov or calling 1-800-923-8282.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
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