Alabama Response Rates to Census

The Census Bureau announced the final mail response rates for the 2010 Census. Alabama scored a 70%, meaning that 70% of the households that received Census forms mailed them back. That is four percentage points higher than we did in 2000.

Alabama was also one of the five states with the highest increase in response rate (Ex. Alabama went from 66% to 70%, or four percentage points):

North Carolina - 8 percentage points higher
South Carolina - 8 percentage points higher
Kentucky - 5 percentage points higher
Tennessee - 5 percentage points higher
Alabama - 4 percentage points higher

Please see the attached map showing the final numbers for each county, color-coded according to level of improvement over 2000. A total of 53 counties exceeded their 2000 rates, some by 10 percentage points or more. Lauderdale County met its previous rate, and just 13 counties fell below the 2000 numbers. 

The census process is not complete though. Now comes the Census Bureau's more difficult job of going door-to-door to find the folks that were missed during the first half of the 2010 Census.

Attached you will find a flier with details of what folks should expect when they hear that knock on the door. Please, get it out to the people you work with on a daily basis. It is particularly important that law enforcement agencies are aware that Census workers are in their neighborhoods, because they will no doubt get phone calls from suspicious residents.

Let's all continue to work toward a very successful Census!

Downloads above:

Alabama Response Rate Map (pdf format)
Nonresponse Flier (pdf format)