Census Completion Ticks Up to 61.4% of Households Nationwide, Georgia Still Lagging

Another month has passed for Census returns and Georgia still lags behind the national average for response rate.

Census results shape the future of communities, as census data informs how billions of dollars in federal funds are distributed for health clinics, school lunch programs, disaster recovery initiatives, and other critical programs and services for the next 10 years.

In mid-April, Georgia lagged behind the national average for response rate, ranking 35th in getting those Census questions back to Census officials. Just 2,300,000 Georgians had returned their Census as of April 18, 2020. As of May 15th, Georgia still ranked 35th but the number had creeped up to 2.7 million responses.

Now, the Peach State is still ranking 35th but has a household completion rate of 57.4% – approximately 2.8 million Georgia households. That’s just a ~100,000 increase in the last month.

Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, and Nebraska topped the list for response rate while Puerto Rico came in last, followed by Alaska, New Mexico, Maine, and West Virginia, respectively.

49.1% of people nationwide have completed their Census via the internet.

The top counties in Georgia for response rate are as follows:

1. Fayette (73.2%)
2. Forsyth (71.2%)
3. Columbia (68.9%)
4. Paulding (67.3%)
5. Oconee (67.1%)
6. Coweta (66.8%)
7. Barrow (66.6%)
8. Walton (66.1%)
9. Henry (65.4%)
10. Catoosa (65.2%)

Similarly, Hancock County came in last with a response rate of 24.5%, followed by Quitman (24.7%), Jenkins (27.6%), Clay (30.2%), and Wheeler (30.8%) counties.

In terms of cities, the City of Berkeley Lake, Ga tops the list for response with a whopping 85.4%. Aldora, Ga [Lamar County] brings up the bottom of the list with 0.0% response, followed by Ellenton, Ga [Colquitt, Ga] with 11% response.

There is still time to return your Census on your own whether online at 2020census.gov, over the phone, or by mail. The deadline has been extended to October 31 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Census Bureau will deliver apportionment counts to the President and Congress in December as required by law.

When you respond to the census, your answers are kept anonymous. They are used only to produce statistics. The U.S. Census Bureau is bound by law to protect your answers and keep them strictly confidential. The law ensures that your private information is never published and that your answers cannot be used against you by any government agency or court.