Washington Counties, Cities Able to Track Percentage of Households Mailing Back Questionnaires
The U.S. Census Bureau has launched an interactive Website on Google Maps showing initial 2010 census participation rates. The state’s mail-participation rate is presently at 10 percent, 10 points lower than the national participation rate. Census officials anticipate that the participation rate will significantly increase throughout March and April, as households continue to receive and mail back the questionnaires.
Currently, Lincoln County in Eastern Washington has the highest participation rate in the state at 35 percent. Yakima County trails all counties with 1 percent participation. The rate is 9 percent in King County, 11 percent in Pierce County, 8 percent in Snohomish County, 18 percent in Thurston County and 4 percent in Spokane County. At the city level the following participation rates are:
• 10% in Seattle
• 9% in Bellevue
• 11% in Tacoma
• 20% in Olympia
• 8% in Vancouver
• 3% in Spokane
• 1% in Wenatchee
• 11% in Bellingham
• 8% in Kent
• 12% in Bremerton
The collaborative partnership with Google allows communities the ability to track how their area is responding to the once-a-decade count. The Census Bureau will provide daily updates of the percentage of returned census questionnaires using Google Maps and Google Earth.
Individuals are encouraged to go to www.2010census.gov/2010census/take10map/ to monitor their area’s mail-participation rate at city, county and state levels. In addition, the map offers the ability for areas to compare with nearby communities and states.
Most households in Washington State received the much-anticipated, 10-question form in mailboxes last week. Census officials hope that households will fill out their 2010 census questionnaires and mail it back.
It costs the government just the price of a postage stamp when a household mails back the 10-question form. However, it costs the Census Bureau $57 to follow up with a non-responsive household. In 2000, the nation reversed a three-decade decline in mail rates, achieving a mail-participation rate of 72 percent.
Mandated by the U.S. Constitution, the census takes place every 10 years. Census Day is April 1, 2010. Census data determine boundaries for state and local legislative and congressional districts. More than $400 billion in federal funds are distributed annually based on census data to pay for local programs and services, such as schools, highways, vocational training, emergency services, hospitals, unemployment benefits and much more.
Learn more about the 2010 Census at www.2010.census.gov .
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