Welcome to the Final Response Rates site for Census 2000. The national 67% Final Response Rate for Census 2000 exceeded the 65% response rate from the 1990 census and far exceeded the 61% response rate expected for the census. Thanks to the public's help, Census 2000 was a good census. The increase in participation by the American public enabled census staff to complete field operations on schedule. The American public should be proud of its accomplishment.

More than 24 percent (9,294) of the local communities responded to the Census Bureau's challenge to increase their community's participation rates in this census by at least five percentage points over their 1990 response rate. Of the 50 states, District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, five met or exceeded the '90 Plus Five challenge. This was a truly significant achievement.

These rates update the Initial Response Rates that were last posted in April 2000 for more than 38,000 state, local and tribal governmental entities. They tell how many housing units returned a census questionnaire by mail, used a Be Counted form, or provided census responses over the telephone or Internet. They were a measure of cooperation by the American public. The rates confirm that the American public reversed a three-census decline in census participation by mailing back their census forms at rates that significantly exceeded those measured in 1990.

The numbers presented on this site represent responses received by mail, telephone or over the Internet through September 7 2000. The rates were calculated solely as a measure of progress in meeting the '90 Plus Five challenge. The Final Response Rates should not be confused with mail return rates. Mail return rates exclude vacant housing structures from the calculation to give a true measure of census "returns."