Despite ongoing hurdles posed by the coronavirus, the Daviess County Complete Count Committee officials said local residents have performed “extraordinarily well” in their 2020 census response rate.
So far, Daviess County has surpassed its 2010 final self-response rate of 75.5% — as it’s already at 77.5% this year.
The U.S. Census Bureau has extended its nonresponse follow up until Oct. 31. Residents will be able to submit their census responses either online or by phone before then.
According to Chad Gesser, associate professor of sociology at Owensboro Community & Technical College, individual neighborhood response rates have varied from 61% to 86% for the year.
The lowest self-response rates primarily fall in tracts closer to downtown Owensboro. The area between Jack C. Fisher Park to Ragu Drive and from W. 2nd Street to E. 18th Street all show lower response rates in 2020 compared to 2010.
Meanwhile, all of the tracts that run from W. 15th Street to the Owensboro Country Club and from Carter Road to Scotty Lane show higher response rates this year compared to 2010.
The data included in the City’s census response rates is managed by the City University of New York Mapping Service at the Garden for Urban Research, CUNY Graduate Center and does not include data being collected by census workers, which is only available at the state level.
