U.S. Census workers aren’t ringing many doorbells in Iowa. That’s because most Iowans filled out and returned their census questionnaires in the mail in March.
Dennis Johnson, Director of the Regional Census Bureau office in Kansas City, says around 78% of the forms mailed in Iowa were completed and returned. “That’s pretty good,” Johnson said. “Iowa’s one of the top three states in the nation as far as percentage of households that mailed it back.” Only Wisconsin and Minnesota have topped Iowa in terms of census form rate of return.
Iowa’s population is currently estimated at just over 3 million people. The new population count for 2010 will be released in December. “It’s at that point when the determination will be made if there will be any changes in the Congressional representation for each state,” Johnson said. “The more detailed demographic information about how old we are and how diverse our population is…those things will be coming out over the next several months after the end of the year.”
Iowa is expected to lose a Congressional seat after this year’s census count – which is still being conducted. Johnson says census takers will be visiting households that failed to return forms in the mail through the end of June.
For more information: 2010.census.gov