U.S. Census officials say Arizonans aren’t submitting their information online or via mail to the decennial Census as well as the nation as a whole.
April 1 is National Census Day, a day officials use for outreach and awareness about ensuring every last resident is counted in their respective states.
Missing out on residents in the decennial Census doesn’t just mean an inaccurate population sign at the city limits. It means potentially losing millions of dollars in federal appropriations. Most state and local revenue that comes from the federal government uses population as a measurement of how much money is sent to states. Medicaid, for instance, is a major source of funding allocated for states via federal programs using the decennial Census as a way to adequately parse those dollars.
As of Wednesday morning, Arizonans are slightly behind the curve.
“Right now, we are at 34.7 percent of the households have already responded, almost to the national average of 36.2 percent,” said Tim Olson, associate director for field operations for the U.S. Census.
In 2010, Arizona’s self-response rate was 61.3, well below the national mail-in rate of 74 percent.
Historically, Olson said Arizona has some areas that have a tendency to be undercounted.
“There are a lot of people living in the rural parts of the state, particularly American-Indians, that are typically more difficult to get an accurate count,” he said. There also are large numbers of non-English speakers who have preconceived notions about giving up sensitive information to the federal government. He stresses that answers are confidential.
Regardless of the undercount, the state’s population has grown significantly over the past decade. Maricopa County is a perennial favorite for the largest annual population increase.
Census officials nationwide have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by backing off the deployment of their in-person interviews, effective March 20, until April 15. Olson said that is still the case and that they would restart the process of on-boarding their field workers when it’s safe.
In response to a letter from 40 mayors across the nation demanding officials back off the deadline to respond to the Census to the end of September, Olson said there could be some additional announcements but the Census is bound to deliver its results to the federal government by the end of the year.
“There is a point where we will be in a difficult spot of being able to complete everything that’s needed, the data collection and the post processing to meet that December 31st deadline,” he said.
Officials had already backed off the deadline to respond to August 14.
