Officials say 2010 census return rate lags from decade ago

For those who haven't yet mailed in a census form, it's probably too late to avoid a visit from one of the army of enumerators that will begin home visits May 1.

The home visits will follow up on the massive mail-in campaign that has been going on for the past month, said Rich Gerdes, assistant regional Census Bureau manager in Kansas City, Mo. But it is not too late to mail in the form or contact the bureau directly to have census information taken by telephone, he said.

"They can either send a questionnaire or, up to the first of May, could do the questionnaire over the phone," he said. "But there is still a good potential you will get someone coming to your door."

As of Tuesday, census participation rates for the 2010 national head count are lagging behind the rates for 2000. The rates are behind nationally, for Missouri as a whole and for most locations in Southeast Missouri.

At this point in 2000, 72 percent of households had returned the census form; 69 percent have done so in 2010. Statewide participation is 3 percent behind the 74 percent return rate from 2000, and in Cape Girardeau County the return rate is 74 percent compared to 76 percent 10 years ago.

The worst return rate in the area is from Bollinger County, where only 57 percent of census forms have been returned, compared to 67 percent in 2000. Perry County is the only area ahead of the 2000 return rate, with 80 percent of forms returned compared to 75 percent in 2000.

Cape Girardeau residents have returned 71 percent of their forms, while Jackson residents have a 79 percent return rate.

Census bureau officials had been worried that return rates would fall much further behind because of the poor economy, so the return rates are good news, Gerdes said.

"There was some concern last September that we were going to be way, way below on the return rates," Gerdes said.

For every 1 percent of the census forms returned from the nation's estimated 130 million households, the bureau saves $85 million in follow-up costs. With an expected return rate of about 64 percent, the good response has saved the bureau almost $600 million, he said.

"We think we will actually be above the 2000 participation rate at the national level," Gerdes said.

The bureau sought to find every house in the nation by sending workers out to verify addresses with GPS-equipped computers, Gerdes said. In addition, the bureau checked addresses against city and county lists and the U.S. Post Office's list of mailing addresses.

"We have never had maps that are this precise," Gerdes said. "That has been a really nice feature."

To contact the Census Bureau if you have not received a form or returned one, call 866-872-6868.

rkeller@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent addresses:

Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Jackson, Mo.

Perry County, Mo.

Bollinger County, Mo.