The messaging has been all around Harford County — social media blasts, smiling faces on billboards and workers standing at meal distribution sites — all representing the decennial census as one of the most important and simple things Harford County residents can do.
The survey is a key factor in directing federal funding to localities, and it takes on new importance during the COVID-19 pandemic. The census could play a part in determining how many coronavirus vaccines could go to the county, county spokesperson Cindy Mumby said.
“This is probably the most significant thing that the average citizen can do to support federal funding coming to our community for social services, free and reduced meals, public safety,” she said, “and in terms of COVID-19, determining how many vaccines to send to an area is assisted by knowing how many people are living there, and that is what the census does.”
August 11 is the first day that census workers will knock on the doors of county residents who have not responded. They will be collecting data in person until October 31.
Each person who is not counted makes the county lose out on $1,821 in federal funding per year, Mumby said. The county benefited from approximately $445 million in federal funding as a result of the 2010 census, aiding social programs, human services, public safety, health care and other services, Mumby said.
The national self-response rate to the census is 62.8% of homes, and Maryland’s rate is above that at 66.7%, according to data tracked by the U.S. Census Bureau. With 1.7 million households responded, the state is ranked 13 in response rate, just barely behind Idaho.
Within the state, the highest rate of response comes from Carroll County, boasting a 78.4% response rate. Harford ranks a couple places behind at 74.8% — just over a point shy of 2010′s 75.9% final response rate, according to the data.
Harford County government has stressed the importance of responding to the census for months, even through the coronavirus pandemic.
The decennial census is an important metric, influencing the number of seats each state has in the House of Representatives, how congressional districts are drawn, and directing billions of federal dollars to programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid in localities throughout the nation, according to the census bureau.
Aberdeen’s response rate is 66.9% — below the county’s average, the city council has noted. Bel Air sits at a 76.1% response rate, and Havre de Grace is at 72.4%, according to the figures.
The information provided to census takers cannot be shared, Mumby said, even with other government agencies. When they canvass the county, census-takers can be identified by an official ID, a census bag and a census-issued computer or smartphone. They only work from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Mumby said the pandemic has obstructed efforts to encourage residents to complete the census, but the county has to employ more creative measures to make sure everybody is counted. Instead of sending census workers to community events, they have had to post census workers at schools’ collection sites for free and reduced meals.
“One of the things that Harford County had done a decade ago was to have representatives at community events to educate folks that the census is coming, to help them respond to the census, and we have seen these kinds of events canceled,” Mumby said. “COVID-19 cut off certain avenues to reach out to the community, but at the same time, we worked to find other ways to connect.”
The census can be completed electronically on the bureau’s website.