Census Bureau releases final mail participation rates

The U.S. Census Bureau released on Thursday, Oct. 21, the final Mail Participation Rates (MPR) for the 2010 census. The MPR’s are the percentage of forms mailed back by households that received them in any particular geographical area.

Sixty-seven percent of all Franklin County residents mailed back their 2010 Census forms, which is considerably higher than the 44% achieved by the county during the 2000 Census count.

Additionally, both municipalities within the county - Apalachicola and Carrabelle surpassed their 2000 MPR’s. Apalachicola achieved a return rate of 66%, which is 13% higher than the 53% rate obtained in 2000 and a whopping 71% of Carrabelle residents returned their forms as opposed to 38% during the last count.

Carrabelle’s 2010 rate is only 3% lower than the national Mail Participation Rate.

Seventy-four percent of all households within the United States filled out and returned their 2010 Census questionnaire, matching the nations final 2000 MPR.

Data collected from the questionnaires is used to help determine the amount of Federal funding each State, County and City receives, the number of seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives and it’s used to determine where to build new roads, hospitals, and schools.

The final 74% U.S. rate includes an additional 2 percent of households that mailed back their forms after April 27, when the U.S. Census Bureau announced a 72 percent participation rate. While these forms were received too late to prevent a visit by a census taker, they were included in the final tally.

“We are very pleased with the public's response to the 2010 Census, and these results demonstrate that the public stepped up to be counted,” Census Bureau Director Robert Groves said.

Approximately 47 million households that did not mail back a census form by the deadline were visited by census takers in person as part of a series of operations and methods to ensure as complete a count as possible. The Census Bureau either received a form or attempted repeated visits to 100 percent of the identified housing units in the country.

“As the law requires, we look forward to reporting to the nation by Dec. 31 the national and state populations as well as the allocation of seats to each state in the U.S. House of Representatives,” Groves said.