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March 18, 2010

Census response rates vary

By Dan Linehan The Free Press

MANKATO — Ten years ago, 79 percent of Mankatoans mailed back the census, almost exactly the same as the state’s 78 percent response.

But certain neighborhoods were far more likely to be prompt than others.

Eighty-nine percent of the Hilltop areas around Immanuel St. Joseph’s Hospital and to the northeast returned their census. Only 68 percent of people in the Lincoln and Highland park neighborhoods sent back their form.

North Mankato was more consistent, with a 84 percent response in the valley and 86 percent atop the hill.

People who don’t mail back their forms will get a visit from a census worker, and only mailed responses are considered for response rates.

The city of Mankato is meeting with neighborhood groups in these areas to remind them about the importance of the census.

The low response areas also have lots of college students, and Minnesota State University has been using free census balls and fortune cookies to get the word out, student senate president Murtaza Rajabali said. They’re also staffing a table in a high-traffic hallway to educate passing students.

The city also gave the university flyers to put in students’ mailboxes.

Another possible explanation for the lower response rates in downtown neighborhoods is the higher proportion of foreclosed (and perhaps vacant) homes in this area.

There’s also a disparity between area cities and counties.

New Ulm had a 86 percent response versus 76 in Eagle Lake.

Brown County’s 85 percent response rate was second statewide only to Rock and Washington counties, which each had 86 percent. Le Sueur County was the lowest in south-central Minnesota at 75 percent.



On the Web: Visit 2010.census.gov/2010census/take10map for a map of response rates nationwide, down to the neighborhood level

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