ST. PAUL – The Upper Midwest is beating out the rest of the country with its U.S. Census response rates.
As of Wednesday, April 1 – also dubbed Census Day – 38.4% of Americans had self-responded to the U.S. Census survey. According to the Census Bureau's most recently available data from March 31, 46.4% of both Minnesota and Wisconsin residents had responded to the 2020 Census.
To the west, 39.8% of South Dakotans had responded, and 39% of North Dakotans.
The Census Bureau began mailing out requests for residents to respond to the Census in mid-March, and Wednesday's Census Day served as a reminder for everyone to respond. The Census, performed once every 10 years, aims to get an accurate count of everyone living in the country and is used to allocate funding and legislative representation based on population.
With the country needing to social distance in order to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, the Census Bureau is especially encouraging residents to respond to the Census online, over the phone or by mail.
