Want to know how to save $1.5 billion? It’s easy, just fill out and mail back your census form! The government estimates the above sum will be needed to cover the cost of following up with unresponsive households, so how about one-upping the Census Bureau and leaving those hard-earned tax dollars for other worthwhile projects?
To make this offer even more enticing, the Census Bureau has developed a tool that will tantalize the technojunkie and provoke the procrastinator. Prepare to be distracted, fellow citizens; the Take 10 interactive Census Participation Map has arrived! All you have to do is type in your zip code and you can see the percentage of households in your area (down to the street!) who have submitted their census.
To be honest, I’m a little disappointed with my own “team”, which currently shows only a 56% response rate! What’s up with that, neighbors?! I have no doubt you all lead busy lives, but in the process of living these last few weeks, you must have been reminded a dozen times about your census by television, magazine, newspaper, vehicle or billboard advertisements, or even possibly a massive blow-up census like the one that stood in front of Union Station last month (and has since traveled to Phoenix and Chicago). $300 million are being spent to both amuse us and remind us of our vital role in shaping the portrait of America. Every stroke matters in this masterpiece and we’re still seeing way too much canvas!
Despite the DC crowd being a little lax on their census-data, I must give a shout out to the folks in Livonia City, Michigan who already have an 81% return rate – making them the highest ranked census-return population in a city of 50,000 or more. On average, states are hovering between 50-70% right now, which isn’t terrible. Still, next month, the Census Bureau will dispatch tens of thousands of census takers and what could have cost the Bureau a $0.42 stamp per household, will now be a $57 follow-up visit – a pretty drastic increase.
The Take 10 map is an entertaining tool, but it also comes with responsibility. By providing detailed information about the response rates of our communities, the Census Bureau is demanding of us to be census advocates among our neighbors. If your numbers this year are lower than the 2000 census (those statistics are also provided by the map) then there’s still work to be done. Speak to your friends and family to make sure they’ve sent in their forms. It’s not too late to cost a stamp rather than a steak dinner. $1.5 billion is on the line; let’s not spend it all in one place.