As of Friday, more than 88% of households in Oregon have self-reported or been contacted by Census workers. In California more than 84% of households have been counted.
The constitutionally-mandated, once-a-decade count of the U.S. population is used to determine political representatives and how federal funds are distributed to communities.
At the county level, some of the lowest self-response rates in our region include areas such as Trinity County in California where just 28.8% of residents have self-reported and Lake County in Oregon where that number stands at 42.2%.
In early August, federal officials announced the 2020 Census schedule would be shortened by one month. That’s created worries and criticism about whether the hardest-to-reach residents will get counted with added complications for field workers during the pandemic.
Online self-reporting for the Census can be done at 2020census.gov.
