DARLINGTON - Efforts to ensure a more accurate count in the 2010 U.S. Census in South Carolina and Darlington County are paying off in the form of significantly higher response rates than in 2000, a representative of the U.S. Census Bureau told Darlington County Council members Monday.
South Carolina’s mail-in response rate stood at 73 percent for the 2010 census, compared to 65 percent when the last census was done in 2000, while Darlington County’s mail-in response rate came in at 72 percent this year versus 59 percent in 2000.
“The Census Bureau wants to thank you for your support,” said Tricia Commings-Lecque, partnership specialist with the U.S. Census Bureau.
Commings-Lecque gave council an update on census efforts in the county.
In 2000, South Carolina had one of the nation’s poorest response rates, ranking 49th among the 50 states. Such low response rates in 2000 meant that the state and Darlington County were severely undercounted, according to state and county officials.
So far with the 2010 census, the state is ranging around 23rd nationally in response rates, Commings-Lecque said. “South Carolina will have bragging rights, I believe, for the next decade,” she said.
“Not only did we do well, but we are still in the process of making sure everyone is counted,” Commings-Lecque said.
South Carolina is also ahead in responses to visits by canvassers to people who did not send in a mail-in response form, she said, so much so that it is being touted as an example for other states, she added. Those efforts are continuing, Commings-Lecque said.
Darlington County organized a Complete Count Committee to oversee the census effort in the county. The committee put together a number of activities and events to promote the census and educate the public about the importance of an accurate count.
More than $440 billion in federal funding is distributed annually to state and local governments each year, with about $5.5 billion of that coming to South Carolina, based largely on census data. Without an accurate count, the state, its counties and cities will not get their fair share of that funding, officials say.
Census data is also used in congressional redistricting and in redistricting for legislative seats for state and local governments.
Darlington County’s four municipalities also improved their response rates on the 2010 census with Lamar leading the way with a 93 percent mail-in response rate compared to a 63 percent rate in 2000, according to Census Bureau figures.
Hartsville boosted its mail-in response rate from 68 percent in 2000 to 75 percent, while Darlington raised its rate from 70 percent to 74 percent and Society Hill improved its rate from 52 percent in 2000 to 63 percent.
In neighboring Chesterfield County, McBee improved its mail-in response rate from 56 percent in 2000 to 77 percent.
State population counts must be delivered to President Barack Obama by Dec. 31.
The bureau will be hiring staff to work with state and local governments in the use and interpretation of census data through 2013, Commings-Lecque said.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement