Take 10 Map

2010 Census National Participation Rate: 74%

Why Mail "Participation" Rate Is A Fairer Measure than Mail Response Rate | How This Map Works | Are You a Government or Tribal Official?

Why Mail "Participation" Rate Is A Fairer Measure than Mail Response Rate

The Mail Participation Rate is the percentage of forms mailed back by households that received them. The Census Bureau developed this new measure in 2010, in part because of the current economy and higher rates of vacant housing. The rate excludes households whose forms were returned to us by the U.S. Postal Service as “undeliverable,” strongly suggesting the house was vacant. We will still follow up on all these housing units to ensure everyone is counted.

Mail Participation Rate is a higher number than the Mail Response Rate we have used over the last decade, but it is a better measure of actual participation and therefore an easier goal to achieve when residents mail back their forms. In 2000, the national Mail Response Rate was 67% and the comparable national Mail Participation Rate was 72%. The Mail Response Rate is important to help us plan for the important door-to-door workload that begins in May during which we visit all households that have not returned a census form.

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How This Map Works

A "Mail Participation rate" is the percent of forms mailed back by households that received them. To find your area's 2010 Census participation rate using the map, enter your zip code, or your city and state, in the search field and click the “Find” button. Once you do this, a national view of the map will appear with a data window on the exact location you chose. The mail participation rate for that area will be featured prominently within that window. From here you can either zoom in or compare that area's 2010 participation rate to its 2000 Census participation rate. To learn more about the map and how it works visit our help section by clicking on the question mark above.

Geographic lines on this map, such as those for state or county borders, have been simplified to shorten load times, and thus are only approximate. The Take 10 Program provides participation rate data for incorporated places (cities, towns, villages) but not for unincorporated places. Please try zooming in to the next level for tract data or zoom out to the level above for county data.

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Are You a Government or Tribal Official?

Join the challenge to increase your community’s Mail back participation rate from 2000 and to help ensure your community receives federal funding. Access our electronic toolkit to find ideas to inspire people to have a voice in their future with the 2010 Census.

* Please note, because this is a tool primarily intended for local and state officials, only participation rates for counties, incorporated places, and the census tracts within them, will be displayed. Not all locations viewable on this map can be found in Census Bureau data products.