U.S. Census Bureau
Link to Census 2000 Central Initial Response Rates

"65% News to Celebrate"

April 19, 2000
Dr. Kenneth Prewitt, Census Bureau Director, today made the following announcement:

    "Sixty-five percent of the households in America have returned their census forms.  This is a serious achievement; it is news to celebrate.  The country has stopped in its tracks a decades-long decline in meeting our civic responsibilities.  The country is saying that democracy is about obligation as well as benefits, about responsibility as well as rights.

    "In reaching 65%, the American public out-performed the expectations of the Census Bureau, of the U.S. Congress, and of the General Accounting Office.  More than 100,000 census partners deserve credit.  Congratulations are owed to thousands of mayors, county commissioners, teachers, community advocates, houses of worship, and other local government, civic and business leaders.  They were determined to ensure the highest possible mail response rate.  They treated the census as the serious civic event intended by the founders when in 1787 they wrote the census into the Constitution.

    "Now the Census Bureau and its community partners turn to an even more demanding task -- convincing the millions and millions who did not return their form nevertheless to cooperate when census-takers knock on the door in the coming weeks.  A half-million Americans will be out doing America's task.  Census 2000 is poised to be the first successful civic event of the new century.  We need only sustain the civic momentum and commitment represented by the initial phase of the census."

Census 2000 Initial Response Rates

An initial response rate presented in red indicates that the jurisdiction has met or exceeded the local goal of its 1990 rate plus five percentage points. Congratulations!


Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Public Information Office
301-763-3030

Last Revised: January 28, 2002 at 10:08:57 AM