Wake County continues to remind residents about filling out the 2020 Census. | Adobe Stock
Wake County continues to remind residents about filling out the 2020 Census. | Adobe Stock
With just a few weeks remaining before 2020 Census forms need to be in, Wake County officials urge residents to fill out their records, so their information is counted.
As of Sept. 16, Wake County had a 71.5% response rate.
The deadline for residents to complete the Census survey is Oct. 31, which was upheld by the courts.
"While many people think of the Census as just a population count, it determines how $675 billion in funding is distributed to communities," Vickie Adamson of Wake County Government told ABC11 for its Oct. 3 report. "Each person not counted equals a loss of about $1,500 and $2,500 funding per year in federal and state funding."
Census data, a count of all citizens, is held every 10 years. It determines how many representatives states have in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the amount of federal funding distributed to state and local governments.
The report said North Carolina could lose billions of dollars in federal aid from an under-count.
Adamson said an example is the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding to help businesses and residents survive the COVID-19 pandemic. That amount has been based on the Census count taken in 2010.
Completing the Census is quick and simple. Residents can provide the information to a door-to-door Census representative, complete it over the phone, mail in a form or file online at www.census.gov.
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