Census 2000 is Coming

Early next week, about 100 million households across the United States will receive a letter from Kenneth Prewitt, the director of the United States Bureau of the Census.

This advance letter (.pdf) is being sent about a week before the 100 million decennial Census 2000 questionnaires are mailed out to every household across the country.

While these letters will mis-addressed with an extra leading digit (i.e. 123 Main St. will be printed as 4123 Main St.), the Census Bureau and the U.S. Postal Service claim that the letters will arrive without a problem. The extra digit may be any number between 1 and 5, although most often the extra digit will be a 1.

Director Prweitt's letter (addressed to "Resident") asks Americans to respond to their census questionnaires quickly so that the census can be completed expeditiously and cost-effectively.

Invariably, millions of households will not complete (or even receive) their forums so the Census Bureau is hiring thousands of temporary workers to track down those who haven't returned their forms (jobs are still available). The form is to be filled out based on each household's composition on April 1, 2000.

The Bureau expects low return rates not only from the poorer and less educated segments of the population, but also from the middle class and highly educated DINKs (dual-income no kids). This growing segment of the population has a very low response rate, as they're just "too busy" to respond.

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Photographs courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau

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