State ranks 3rd in census participation

Ron Shawgo
The Journal Gazette
October 22, 2010

Nearly eight in 10 Hoosier households returned census forms this year, placing Indiana in the top five among states.

With a 79 percent participation rate, Indiana tied with Iowa for third place behind Wisconsin (82 percent) and Minnesota (81 percent).

Among states and the District of Columbia, Alaska ranked last with 64 percent, according to final figures released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The 2010 census forms with questions about the number, ages and races of residents were mailed to households in mid-March. Follow-up visits by census workers to homes that didn't return the forms were made in the summer. That effort helped push Indiana's participation up a percentage point to the same rate as in 2000.

The Census Bureau is constitutionally required to report state populations by Dec. 31 every decade. The population numbers are used to allot U.S. House seats and redraw federal, state and local legislative boundaries. More than $400 billion in federal money is distributed to states and communities based on the census returns.

The national participation rate of 74 percent matched that of Census 2000. Twenty-two states, 1,553 counties and 278 cities and townships with a population of 50,000 or more met or exceeded their 2000 census participation rates.

Only about a third of Indiana's 92 counties improved their 2000 rates.

Locally, Allen County's rate of 80 percent matched that of 2000, while most other northeast Indiana counties dropped in participation.

As reported during the mail-in period, Fort Wayne's southern section had the lowest participation in the region, though many neighborhoods in that area improved their 2000 rates. Percentage rates for those neighborhoods were in the low to high 60s.

Fort Wayne's rate of 78 percent is identical to that of 2000.

Of Indiana's 565 cities and towns, 60 percent had the same or worse rates as a decade ago.

rshawgo@jg.net
NORTHEAST INDIANA RATES

Percentage of participation

County ... 2000 ... 2010
Adams ... 84 ... 78
Allen ... 80 ... 80
DeKalb ... 83 ... 81
Huntington ... 83 ... 79
Kosciusko ... 77 ... 77
Noble ... 79 ... 78
Steuben ... 76 ... 80
Wells ... 87 ... 83
Whitley ... 85 ... 80
Source: U.S. Census Bureau