WACO, TX — Census takers are working to follow up with Waco and McLennan County households that have not yet responded to the 2020 Census.
The current self-response rate in McLennan County is 58.5%. The Census Bureau will need to visit the remaining addresses to collect responses in person.
Households can still respond now by completing and mailing back the paper questionnaire they received, by responding online at 2020census.gov, or by phone at 844-330-2020.
Households can also respond online or by phone in one of 13 languages and find assistance in many more. Those that respond will not need to be visited to obtain their census response.
The Census Bureau and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are working together to protect the health and safety of the public and our employees. Participation in 2020 Census interviews should present a low risk of transmission of COVID-19.
Census takers will follow these CDC recommendations to mitigate the risk of transmission:
· Wearing face masks
· Maintaining social distance of 6 feet or more
· Practicing hand hygiene
· Not entering homes, and conducting interviews outside as much as possible or practical
Census takers are hired from local communities. All census takers speak English, and many are bilingual.
If a census taker does not speak the householder’s language, the household may request a return visit from a census taker who does.
If no one is home when the census taker visits, the census taker will leave a notice of their visit with information about how to respond online, by phone or by mail.
People are encouraged to cooperate with census takers and ensure that everyone who was living in their household as of April 1, 2020, is counted.
Census takers can be easily identified by a valid government ID badge with their photograph, a U.S. Department of Commerce watermark, and an expiration date on the badge.
To confirm a census taker’s identity, the public may contact the Denver/Dallas Regional Census Center at 972-510-1800 to speak with a Census Bureau representative.
