In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump Administration extended the 2020 Census count to the end of October. But this week, it announced it is now ending the census a month earlier. The latest figures from the U.S. Census Bureau show that only 64.1 percent of Californians have responded to the census, which is 4 points lower than the 2010 census results. Almost all the 50 states are reporting that they have not matched their response rate from 2010. The Census Bureau now has six weeks to count 36 percent of the population. Managing editor Tami Roleff explains why it’s so important for residents to respond to the census…
The results of the 2020 census results will be used to determine how much funding local communities receive for key public services and how many seats each state gets in Congress. State and local officials also use census counts to draw boundaries for congressional, state legislative, and school districts. States gain or lose seats in Congress (and the Electoral College, which determines presidential elections) depending on how much their population changes relative to the nation at large. And while you are required by law to participate, the Census Bureau is also required by law to protect your answers. Your responses are used only to produce statistics. The Census Bureau does not disclose any personal information. The 2020 census will ask how many people are living or staying in your home, whether you own or rent, and your home is a house, mobile home, or apartment; your telephone number, the name, sex, age, birth date, ethnicity of each person in the home, and the relationship to other people in the home.
For more information, see census.gov or californiacensus.org.
