2020 Census

Keep Up the Great Work Mill Creek!
Way to go Mill Creek! Snohomish County's Self-response rate is 74.7% with Mill Creek at 79.6%. Washington State is in 3rd place overall nation-wide with 92.6% of the households counted. If you haven't taken the Census already, please do so here.  

Census Data Collection Deadline: Sept. 30, 2020 
To meet its statutory deadline to deliver the results of the 2020 Census by Dec. 31, 2020, the Census Bureau recently announced that it would complete the data collection phase of the census on Sept. 30. 
At that time, all field data collection operations will cease, and the online questionnaire and call centers will shut down. The bureau’s new plan for Non-Response Follow-Up is underway.  Some of the plan’s elements include:
  • Telephone Follow-Up.  The bureau will supplement its in-person, follow-up phase with phone calls to some non-responding households.  This is done to make sure no one is left off the census or is counted more than once.  These phone calls are conducted by a contractor to the bureau called Maximus. If you think you missed a call from the Census Bureau or received a call but want to confirm it is legitimate, please call 844.809.7717 (English) or 844.809.7718 (Spanish). If voicemail is available, a message will be left asking the household to call one of the call centers.
  • Notice of Visit.  “Notice of Visit” messages will be left at residences if no one is home; they will include information about how to respond online, by phone or by mail.  These messages proved successful in encouraging people to self-respond.
  • Seventh Mailing.  Beginning in late August, a seventh mailing – which will include a paper questionnaire – will be sent to non-responding households in the lowest-responding census tracts.
  • Email Reminder.  More than 20 million households in low-responding areas will receive an email reminder.  Emails will be sent to all households in census block groups with a response rate of lower than 50 percent; and may include households that have already responded.  The emails will come from [email protected] and will give recipients the ability to opt out of future messages. 
  • Additional Paid Advertising.  A series of new advertisements – in more than 40 non-English languages – will start to air across the country.
  • Mobile Questionnaire Assistance Centers (MQAs).  Census workers are providing MQAs to help people answer the census in various counties across the state.  Selected locations are high-traffic areas in specific Census Bureau-identified low-response areas.  The MQA operation is expected to continue until Sept. 30.  
  • Wi-Fi Hotspots.  Looking for a place in your community to access the internet?  Check out the state’s interactive location map that shows free drive-in Wi-Fi hotspots around the state.  Access is free for all residents.  While most Wi-Fi hotspots are in parking lots, some are inside.
  • Questions about ZIP Codes.  Some people have asked why their mailing addresses do not seem to match where they live.  The Census Bureau does not use mailing address for a residence to assign housing units to the proper political jurisdiction or census geography.  Instead, the bureau uses the physical location of a housing unit to assign it to the proper geographic area.  The bureau recognizes that the post office “city” names associated with a ZIP may differ from the legal municipality or district in which the housing unit is actually located.  For more information, click here.
  • COVID-19. The U.S. Census Bureau is carefully monitoring the COVID-19 virus and is following the guidance of federal, state, and local health authorities.  We appreciate your support and patience as operations are adjusted.
Why Complete the Census?
Hospitals. Fire departments. Schools. Even roads and highways. The census can shape many different aspects of your community. Each year, the results help determine how more than $675 billion in federal funding is distributed to states and communities.

As mandated by the U.S. Constitution, our nation gets just one chance each decade to count its population. The U.S. has counted its population every 10 years since 1790. The U.S. census counts every resident in the United States. It is mandated by Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution and takes place every 10 years. The data collected by the census determine the number of seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives (a process called apportionment) and is also used to distribute billions in federal funds to local communities. Learn more at 2020Census.gov.  

Temporary positions for the 2020 Census feature flexible hours- a perfect fit if you are looking to earn extra money, even if you already have other commitments. Additional information found here: 2020census.gov/jobs 
Fact sheet on the 2020 Census