Census participation rates
You know, for when you need to talk smack about another census tract. Or not.
The Census Bureau is posting daily updates about "participation" rates -- by county, city and even individual census tracts.
It's still early in the collection process, but differences are already starting to show up. For example: the tract that includes the Park South neighborhood in Albany has an 8 percent participation rate (its final rate was 53 percent in 2000). The adjacent track that includes the Helderberg neighborhood is at 25 percent (82 percent in 2000).
As it happens, that Park South tract is considered a one of the hardest to count tracts in the nation.
You can explore the rates on maps or side-by-side text comparisons.
How the Census Bureau's calculating the rates:
The Mail Participation Rate is the percentage of forms mailed back by households that received them. The Census Bureau developed this new measure in 2010, in part because of the current economy and higher rates of vacant housing. The rate excludes households whose forms were returned to us by the U.S. Postal Service as "undeliverable," strongly suggesting the house was vacant. We will still follow up on all these housing units to ensure everyone is counted.
New York State's participation rate is 18 percent so far. The national participation rate is 20 percent. The place with the highest participation rate is Leighton, Iowa at 75 percent.
(Thanks, Fred!)
map grab: US Census Bureau
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Comments
go park south! ...still haven't sent mine back : /
... said backpack T on Mar 26, 2010 at 7:19 AM | link
I haven't even gotten a Census form yet. Apparently, if you don't get one, you can call 1-866-872-6868 or pick up a Be Counted form at a Questionnaire Assistance Center as listed at http://2010.census.gov/2010census/take10map/.
... said MB on Mar 27, 2010 at 6:13 PM | link
I got my census form in the mail. But here's what annoys me. They want to know how many people live in my household on April 1, 2010. I could die tomorrow and then the numbers will be off. I don't think it's right to ask questions about the future if they want an accurate count. Why don't they ask for March 1 because it's in the past? Also, was it really necessary for the commercials, the letter telling me I'd be getting it in the mail, and then a letter the day after saying I should have received it in the mail? And we wonder why our country is broke....
... said Rose @Dozenroses13 on Mar 28, 2010 at 6:31 PM | link