CENSUS INVITATIONS GOING OUT STARTING THIS WEEK

  

Millions of households across the country will begin receiving invitations to respond to the 2020 Census this week.

Households can expect their invitations to arrive between Thursday and next Friday, March 20^th from the United States Census Bureau.  Invitations will either encourage homes to respond online, by phone, or by mail.

Once invitations are received, households are encouraged to respond as soon as possible. They are reminded to use the provided census ID to respond, but should they be unable to use the census ID, they can still respond by providing an address.

Homes receiving an invitation in the mail will receive a second letter in the mail shortly after, reminding them to respond. Homes that still haven’t responded will receive additional reminders, including a paper questionnaire in mid-April.  Census takers will follow up with households that do not respond to collect responses in person.

According to the Response Outreach Area Mapper (ROAM), which indicates hard-to-survey areas by mapping out counties divided by census bracket, Washington County has healthy response rates, save for south of Highway 290 on Highway 36 down to Austin County, which accounts for 7,475 homes, or 17.7 percent of the county’s population.

The Census Bureau will use data that the public has already provided to reduce follow-up visit by building an accurate address list. Information obtained through individual responses is kept confidential by federal law.

The U.S. Constitution requires a count, or census, of America’s population to be taken each decade. Results are used to reapportion the House of Representatives, and also determine the distribution of federal funding to the states.

To learn more about the census, or to take the census online, go to www.2020census.gov.