Aug 4, 2020 3 min read

Washington County residents can hold their head a little higher: They are responding to U.S. Census questionnaires at a slightly higher rate than the rest of the nation.

As of Monday 68% of households in the county had responded to the census, higher than the national rate of 62.9%, and slightly higher than the overall response rate in Pennsylvania, which is 66%.

Washington County’s response rate is slightly lower than Allegheny County’s, which is at 68.1%. Greene County’s response rate was 59.7%, and Fayette County’s was 61%.

All told, 93 million households across the country have responded so far to the census.

Despite the multitude of distractions in the news right now, from the continuing COVID-19 pandemic to the contentious presidential election, officials are urging residents to respond to the decennial census, and emphasizing that it is possible to do so without coming in contact with a census official.

“The response rate is going very, very well,” said Susan Licate, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Census based in suburban Cleveland.

It’s mandated that every U.S. resident be counted in the census, and the exercise is more than academic. Billions of dollars in federal funds are on the line, with population counts determining how that money is directed for educational programs, health care and other services.

In April, Betsy Rohanna McClure, a Greene County commissioner, pointed out that getting an accurate count “does help with the funding of our county. I don’t think people understand that, like so many things about government. They don’t realize it’s a driving force to help get funding.”

This is the first census where nearly all households have had the option to respond online. They also have the option of responding by phone or mail. It’s been reported that the Census Bureau will cease in-person interviews at households that have not yet responded by Sept. 30, not Oct. 31, as previously announced.

“It’s been a very, very fluid situation,” Licate said.

The pandemic has, of course, upended many routine functions of government and business. Licate emphasized that individuals can still respond to the census in “a contactless manner.”

Article 1, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution outlines the need for a census, and Licate said that, by participating, Americans would have “an opportunity to uphold the Constitution.”

Population estimates released earlier this year by the Census Bureau indicated that Cecil and North Strabane townships have likely experienced the most growth in Washington County over the last 10 years. It is also estimated that at least 12 of Greene County’s 26 municipalities have lost 7% or more of their population over the last decade.