Have you filled out your Census yet? Don’t be surprised if a worker comes knocking on your door

ATLANTA — If you get a knock on your door, and the person tells you they’re from the Census Bureau — it’s legit.

Right now, Georgia stands at more than a 50% response rate so far for people taking the census.

Channel 2 anchor Jorge Estevez spoke with Marilyn Stephens, who is an assistant regional census manager for the Atlanta area.

She said the Atlanta area is currently at about a 56.4% self-response rate.

“We were pleased with that for now. The state — it’s about 60% on self-response. But nationally, we’re more than 64%,” she said.

Stephens said the bureau is trying to get the number up.

“Now, we’re in the field to contact non-responding households. However, you can still respond by going to My2020census.gov and doing it online. It takes less than 10 minutes. Or by calling our call center and talking with the representative,” Stephens said.

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Estevez asked Stephens about how safe people’s personal information is with the workers going door to door.

“Most people don’t realize that census data is protected by law to laws, in fact. Title 13 says that we cannot release anything that will identify you or your household with the information you give us. Then it further states that no entity, no agency, can get your information. No law enforcement, no police, no ICE, no FBI, CIA, IRS or any other immigration agency,” Stephens said.

Estevez also asked Stephens about how the agency determines how much money certain regions will need from the federal government.

“How does Atlanta know what Atlanta needs over the next 10 years based on participation in the census?” Estevez asked.

“That is one of those unique things with a large population. So it wants to maintain that, at least that 500,000-population threshold. So in emergencies like this pandemic, the money will come straight to the city from the federal government — if not, through the state,” Stephens said.

For more information about responding to the census, CLICK HERE.

Here's how the coronavirus pandemic will affect the Census The U.S. Census determines the federal funding in our communities.

Cox Media Group