Nifty census map shows lagging response rate

04/01/2010 4:27 PM

By Micah Maidenberg
Editor

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A census from from the 1970 count. Image courtesy Census.gov.

The Tribune has published an interactive map showing local response rates to mailed census forms. How are neighborhoods covered by Chicago Journal doing?
Let's take a look at a few examples. The response rates below are all through today, April 1.
The Trib's map page promises updates as new data is released by the Census Bureau.
In the South Loop census tract 17031330100 -- an area bound roughly by Roosevelt on the north, State on the west, Lake Michigan on the east and Cermak Road down to I-57 on the south -- 34 percent of residents had responded to census mailings.
In tract 17031320400, where most of the residential buildings are located between Madison, State, Michigan and Harrison, just 15 percent of households had responded to the census as of April 1.
The West Loop's Skinner Park area -- aka census tract 17031281700 -- saw 43 percent of residents respond to census mailings. The tract is bound by Madison, Ashland, Racine and Van Buren.
Near West Siders living in tract 17031281300, a parcel bound by Damen, Leavitt, Madison and Van Buren, saw a similar response rate -- 44 percent.
These numbers are not faring favorably in comparison to the national average, however.
As the Tribune notes:

Yet, in an embarrassing show for a coordinated effort held up last year as a national model, Chicago's mail response rate so far is among the country's lowest. Only 38 percent of households have responded, census officials reported Wednesday, compared with 52 percent nationwide.

The census bureau advises residents to watch for forms in the mail, noting on its Web site that "the information the census collects helps to determine how more than $400 billion dollars of federal funding each year is spent on infrastructure and services" from hospitals to schools and infrastructure to senior centers.


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