Census takers now going door to door

Sheldon Compton
May 7, 2010

Workers with the U.S. Census Bureau are now going door to door, beginning the work for which the bureau has prepared for over the past year.

With tours of the commonwealth, moves to have individual community governments recognize the upcoming 2010 count and an enormous push to recruit census takers throughout all regions, the work seems to be paying off.

As of now, Kentucky is slightly ahead of the national average in participation, according to recent numbers. So far, census records show that 75 percent of Kentuckians have taken part in the census during the first half of the process, which has been through mailed forms.

The national average is currently at 72 percent. "America's had a very successful first half of the 2010 Census, where more than 72 percent of the nation's households mailed back their census forms," U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert M. Groves said. "But achieving a complete and accurate census requires us to now go door to door to count all the remaining households we've not heard back from."

Early on, local officials in Floyd County were meeting with census workers such as Andi Sluss, a partnership specialist with the bureau, and working closely to encourage residents to take part.

Sluss, who gave a presentation at one point to the members of the Big Sandy Area Development District's board, reminded officials that something as simple as a number count could mean the difference in several aspects of funding and growth for communities.

"It's so important for us to get an accurate head count," said Floyd County Judge-Executive R.D. "Doc" Marshall. "It's important for our citizens and it currently holds a great deal of economic importance.

Some $300 billion in federal and state funding is given out each year based census data and stands as a vital study in determining where to locate schools, day care centers, roads, hospitals and many other businesses and infrastructure.

Marshall suspects a more accurate count will show that Floyd County has more residents than has been reflected in the past.

"Not to say anything about the census takers," said Marshall, who added that his wife once worked as a census taker, "but many times in this area counts are based on the average number of people in a household.

That average is not always the case."

According to the 2000 census, Floyd County was home to 42,441 citizens, 16,881 households and 12,272 families.