It's Not Too Late To Be Counted In The 2020 Census

Press release from the Wright County Government:

September 9, 2020

With the 2020 United States Census expected to shut down its tabulation at the end of September, Minnesota continues to lead the way with self-reporting data for the state and national total population.

As of data collected through Sept. 8, Minnesota currently stands atop the list with the highest self-reporting rate of 74.3 percent. Only six other states have a self-reporting rate of higher than 70 percent – Washington (71.5), Wisconsin (71.5), Nebraska (70.9), Michigan (70.4), Iowa (70.3) and Illinois (70.1). The national self-response rate is 65.5 percent.

However, when those who were enumerated by the Non-Response Follow Up are added into the total, Minnesota is at 93.6 percent of all reporting. That ranks Minnesota 11th overall, behind Idaho (98.5), West Virginia (97.7), Washington (96.5), Hawaii (96.1), Kansas (95.6), Maine (95.4), Wisconsin (95.3), Oregon (95.2), Indiana (95.1) and Connecticut (94.7).

The reason why statewide population counts are important is that census data is used to determine congressional representation and the allocation of hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding.

For Wright County, getting as complete a count as possible is vital because the census determines the funding for things like school lunch programs, head start programs, infrastructure needs, transit funding, programs for the elderly, child abuse prevention programs and housing assistance just to name a few.

It’s not too late to fill out the 2020 U.S. Census form. If you haven’t, go to www.2020census.gov. Let’s get all of Wright County counted.

This press release was produced by the Wright County Government. The views expressed here are the author’s own.