Week 2 Response Rate Analysis; Tribal Lands Added to the Map
This email update is brief, focused on the following items:
- We wanted to make sure everyone had our latest analysis of the nation's self-response rate trends (covering Week 2, from March 27 though April 2, with a couple of references to the nationwide rate as of April 4);
- We've added response rates for tribal lands to the map; and
- We're not the only ones mapping and analyzing response rate trends, so we've started to compile a list of other response rate visualizations.
Week 2 analysis
In collaboration with the Census Counts 2020 coalition and the Funders Census Initiative, here is our latest update examining response rate trends across the country: Mapping Self-Response for a Fair and Accurate 2020 Census (Week 2)
Our Week 2 update focused on response rates in areas covered by the Census Bureau's Update/Leave operation, which was suspended soon after it began. Almost households that would have received a hand-delivered census packet therefore have not received their packets. As a result, the response rates in these areas tend to be very low.
Our report displays the scope of this impact visually through our HTC/Response Rate map, and also quantitatively such as this scatterplot that uses county-level data for New Mexico to illustrate the problem: the more housing units covered by the suspended Update/Leave operation, the lower the response rates, down to almost zero in some counties. (The small circles on the graph represent counties. The red line sloping downward from left to right indicates the negative relationship between response rates and shares of housing in Update/Leave.)
We also extended our Week 1 examination of the differences in response rates in areas that received Internet First mailings vs Internet Choice mailings, as well as bilingual Spanish/English mailings of either type.
And we reported that tracts nationwide whose populations are predominantly Hispanic or Black tended to have lower response rates than the national rate overall and compared to tracts whose populations are predominantly White.
Tribal Lands
The suspension of Update/Leave has a disproportionate impact on Native Americans (the "American Indian" population, in Census Bureau data parlance), because almost all households in tribal lands across the U.S. were to have received hand-delivered census packets instead of receiving mailings from the Bureau. (Tribal lands are not the only areas covered by Update/Leave, but almost all tribal lands are part of the Update/Leave operation so the suspension has a concentrated impact on these communities.)
Our HTC/Response Rate map now includes response rates for these tribal lands as a way to help census stakeholders easily access and visualize this information. This image shows Acoma Pueblo on the map as an example:
Note that not all tribal areas are included on the map. The Census Bureau is publishing response rates for about 300 tribal areas, though several hundred more are included in the Bureau's data for so-called "American Indian Area Geography." The easiest way to display the response rate for a specific tribal land on our map is to use the "Search By" feature at the top right of the map. Enter the name of a reservation, pueblo, trust land, etc and the search will display a list of possible matches. If your area of concern is not in the list, the Bureau is not publishing data for that area.
Other Response Rate Mapping/Analysis Efforts
Other organizations across the country are analyzing nationwide and/or local trends in Census response rates. Here are some we have noticed, in no particular order:
Please let us know if we've missed any other examples.
Links to earlier updates
Make sure to follow us on Twitter at @Census2020Map !
The HTC 2020 map is a work in progress. Other recent updates and enhancements are described here:
- April 3, 2020: Census 2020 HTC map news: "Census Day" Self-Response Bump; Data Q&A.
- March 31, 2020: Week 1 analysis of census self-response rates.
- March 23, 2020: Update on mapping self-response rates, with emphasis on the 2020 progress bar that fills in daily after the latest rates are published, easy share/embed options for your map, and some notes on the data.
- March 19 2020: In a joint statement with our colleagues at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (LCCHR), we highlighted the importance of a fair and accurate 2020 Census as the coronavirus challenges grow, and lifted up the resources available at our HTC 2020 map to help inspire Americans to fill out the 2020 Census form on their own. Self-responding helps ensure that the Census Bureau collects reliable data about the nation's population. And self-responding is a way to practice social distancing because it avoids a knock at your door later on from a census taker.
- March 2020: The HTC map is now focused on census self-response rates. All the former info at the map is still there. But now that census mailings are going out, the map has been updated to reflect 2010 response rates in anticipation of integrating 2020 real-time rates after March 20. NB: the map not only displays response rates for each state, county, and tract, but also include a bar chart in the map's left-hand panel that shows the 2010 rate (and 2000, for historical context) for now. The 2020 column in the bar chart is empty, but it will start to go up after March 20. How quickly and how far it rises depends on local census stakeholders!
- February 2020: New data on the risk of undercounting young children, in collaboration with the Population Reference Bureau. For more info, visit PRB's website.
- January 2020: To help promote the official start of the 2020 Census in Alaska, we added a special "It Starts Here" (in Toksook Bay, AK) graphic on the map. Updates in January also included new 2014-2018 population estimates for tracts, counties, states, and legislative districts, and more.
- December 2019: New advanced tract search feature, statewide maps of Census Bureau contact strategies, and more.
- November 2019: Comprehensive information for all 2020 Census contact techniques combined in one place at the HTC 2020 map, so census stakeholders can more easily inform local residents about what to expect when the 2020 decennial census takes place. Also see the CUNY Center for Urban Research website for a state-by-state analysis.
- October 2019: Updates to TEA designations; the latest examples of groups using the HTC map across the country; enhancing the HTC metrics with the Census Bureau's "low response score", the Urban Institute's projections of undercount by state; & more.
- August 2019: In-Field Address Canvassing areas & stats on the map; organizations that are using the HTC map for local grant assistance; new examples of linking to and/or embedding the HTC map.
- July 2019: new feature to highlight tracts based on share of households without internet access; a list of other census maps nationwide, and more.
- June 2019: Census contacts by state/county; census tract search feature.
- April 2019: customized printing, data downloads, and more.
- March 2019: mapping Type of Enumeration Areas (TEA) and Area Census Offices (ACOs)
- January 2019: new ACS data for the 2013-17 period (including internet access), new legislative info, public library locations, and tribal lands added to the map.
If you haven't signed up for our HTC 2020 map updates, please do so here.
We look forward to hearing your suggestions for improving the map. Please contact the Mapping Service at the CUNY Graduate Center with your feedback.
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