As of April 28, 61.6 percent of Whatcom County households had completed the 2020 census questionnaires, which can only be done online, by mail or by phone. But Point Roberts, Birch Bay and a few other areas in the county have a long way to go on the once-a-decade count, according to response rates published on the U.S. Census Bureau’s website.
So far, 59.7 percent of households in the state and 61.6 percent in Whatcom County have responded to the census – that’s above the national response rate of 54.3 percent.
Though the county rate is above average, just 17.9 percent of households in Point Roberts have responded to the survey. Birch Bay households are also neglecting the survey – one of the census tracts in Birch Bay had a response rate of 39.1 percent.
In Blaine, 58.0 percent of households have responded. For the 2010 census, 62.1 percent of Blaine households and 67.6 percent of Whatcom County households responded.
Households are required by law to respond to the census, and the U.S. Census Bureau is asking people to respond as soon as possible. Beginning May 27, census employees will interview households that haven’t responded yet. Households should have received a notice in the mail by March 20 with information on how to respond.
The census provides data that lawmakers, teachers, business owners and many others use to provide services and make decisions about communities. Results inform decisions on hundreds of billions in federal funding every year for programs including Medicaid, Head Start, food assistance programs and grants for community mental health services.
The results also determine how many seats each state gets in the U.S. House of Representatives and are used to draw congressional and state legislative districts.
For more information, please visit 2020census.gov.
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