With more people staying at home in recent months due to the coronavirus, the U.S. Census Bureau reports a growing number of people are filling out their 2020 census forms even without the conventional enumerators going house to house to gather the information.
The census takers who would normally be knocking on peoples' doors to remind them to fill out the forms or directly ask the census questions were sidelined this spring to limit the potential spread of the virus. In their place, the Census Bureau is urging residents to fill out forms for the decennial population count online or via the U.S. mail.
So far, 61.4% of Americans have filled out and returned their 2020 census on their own. Nearly half of all households filled out the census form online. Others have mailed in the census forms, which are designed to gather population and other data across the country as of April 1.
In Tennessee, 61% of all residents have filled out their census forms, the U.S. Bureau of Census said Monday. In the city of Chattanooga, the self-response rate to the census so far is 56.7%.
In Georgia, 57.4% of residents have completed the decennial census and 59.2% of the residents in Alabama have filled out their forms.
The response rate is highest so far in Minnesota at 70.9% and lowest in Alaska at 46.8%.
All of the area census offices are now fully open as they continue to count the U.S. population in the midst of the pandemic, but the deadline to fill out the census has been pushed back to October 31 due to COVID-19.
The U.S. Constitution mandates a census of the population every 10 years. The 2020 Census will count everyone who lives in the U.S. as of April 1, 2020.
Census statistics help determine the number of seats each state holds in the U.S. House of Representatives and how billions of dollars in federal funds will be allocated by state, local, and federal lawmakers every year for the next decade.