New Mexico Trailing Nation in Census Response

Our nation is currently conducting the once-a-decade census with the goal to count every person living in the United States once, only once and in the right place. While Los Alamos County is one of the leading counties in self-response rates nationally, New Mexico has one of the lowest self-response rates at 51.8% self-response, compared to the nation's 62.1%. 

Everyone matters and responding to the census helps communities get their fair share of federal funding. Census data guides how more than $675 billion in funding gets distributed to states and communities each year and helps communities create jobs, provide housing, prepare for emergencies, and build schools, roads and hospitals. The census also helps determine how many seats a state receives in Congress and state and local governments use the data to redraw boundaries for congressional districts, state legislative districts and school districts, adapting to population shifts.

The 2020 Census is easy, safe and important. By now, many of you should have received a unique code in the mail, prompting you to go online to complete the survey. Responding is easier than ever since for the first time, people will be able to respond to the census online. It asks just a few questions and takes a few minutes to respond. Your responses are safe, secure, confidential and protected by law. If you respond online, your answers are encrypted to protect your privacy and are safe from hacking and other cyber threats. If you don’t have Internet access, people can respond by phone or by mail. Conducting the census is a massive undertaking and requires years of planning with the support of thousands of people.

There's still plenty of time to respond - survey data will be collected through October. Visit 2020censusgov.com for more information.

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