Are 2020 census self-response rates on track to be lower than usual?
The 2020 census self-response rate, measuring completion rates online, by mail or over the phone, is on track to match the rate in previous censuses, allaying some worries about the impact of the pandemic on the decennial effort. As of Sept. 15, the self-response rate was 65.9%, ahead of this year's original goal of 60%. The final rate was 74% in 2010 and 67% ten years earlier.
The bureau moved up the deadline one month to Sept. 30, including personal follow-up with 50 million non-responding households, carried out by a field force budgeted at 435,000 "enumerators." More uncertainty surrounds that part of the process. The bureau reports varying completion rates around the country. Workers told The San Francisco Chronicle that they were being offered reassignment to other areas before their work was complete. "It's just been so crazily organized," one said.