Ocean City Census Response Rate Less Than A Third Of US Average

OCEAN CITY, NJ — With about five months left to turn in their replies, 18.5 percent of Ocean City households have self-responded to the 2020 U.S. Census, according to early data from the bureau.

New Jersey's overall self-response rate stood at 62.3 percent as of Friday. The national response has been 60.3 percent.

The U.S. Census counts every resident in the United States. It's mandated by Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution and takes place every 10 years.

The census is important for several reasons, officials say. Here are a few, according to census.gov:

• It determines how many representatives each state gets in Congress and is used to redraw district boundaries
• Census results help determine federal funding for critical needs such as roads, schools, health care, emergency services and housing
• Businesses use the data to help decide where to open new locations

Want to self-respond to the 2020 census? It can be completed online here. It can also be completed via phone or mail (learn more here).

People have until Oct. 31 to self-respond this year because of the coronavirus.

Related article: Ocean City Emphasizes Census Participation

Here's some more advice from Ocean City:

THE CONCEPT OF USUAL RESIDENCE: The Census Act of 1790 established the concept of "usual residence" as the main principle in determining where people should be counted, and this concept has been followed in all subsequent censuses. "Usual residence" has been defined as the place where a person lives and sleeps most of the time. This place is not necessarily the same as the person's voting residence or legal residence.

PEOPLE WHO LIVE OR STAY IN MORE THAN ONE PLACE: For the 2020 Census, the Census Bureau will retain the proposed residence situation guidance for people who live or stay in more than one place. People who travel seasonally between residences (e.g., snowbirds or shore homeowners) will be counted at the residence where they live and sleep most of the time. If they cannot determine a place where they live most of the time, they will be counted where they are staying on Census Day.

FOREIGN CITIZENS IN THE UNITED STATES: Foreign citizens are considered to be "living" in the United States if, at the time of the census, they are living and sleeping most of the time at a residence in the United States.

HEALTH CARE FACILITIES: The Census will count facilities serving long-term residents or patients who live and sleep at the facility most of the time.

COLLEGE AND BOARDING SCHOOL STUDENTS: The Census Bureau has historically counted boarding school students at their parental home, and will continue doing so because of the students' age and dependency on their parents, and the likelihood that they will return to their parents' residence when they are not attending their boarding school.

MILITARY PERSONNEL: The Census will make a distinction between personnel who are deployed overseas and those who are stationed or assigned overseas. Deployments are typically short in duration, and the deployed personnel will be returning to their usual residence where they are stationed or assigned in the United States after their temporary deployment ends. Personnel stationed or assigned overseas generally remain overseas for longer periods of time and often do not return to the previous stateside location from which they left. Therefore, counting deployed personnel at their usual residence in the United States follows the standard interpretation of the residence criteria to count people at their usual residence if they are temporarily away for work purposes.

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