THATCHER — While both Thatcher and Safford are outpacing the state as a whole when it comes to response to the U.S. Census, workers are now starting to go door-to-door to get information from those yet to reply.
“They started a couple weeks ago, and they’ll be going through the end of October,” said Ashley Smith, who is coordinating Graham County’s Census response.
Arizona’s response rate is 60.8 percent, while Thatcher is at 65.2 percent (good for 20th best in the state) and Safford is at 63.4 percent (22nd). Pima is at 47.2 percent, up significantly from 2010.
Smith said homeowners will be able to confirm if a person knocking is actually working for the Census Bureau.
“They will have a Census-issued messenger bag that has the Census logo on it; they will have a lanyard with identification and their picture, again it has the census logo on it; and they also carry Census-issued smart phones,” Smith said.
Graham County’s response rate 54.1 percent while Greenlee County’s is 38.6 percent. Duncan is at 40.3 percent, ranked 74th in the state, while Clifton is at 39 percent (77th).
Oro Valley is the top responding community in the state, at 76.3 percent, while Pima and Maricopa are tied for best responding county at 64.7 percent.
Minnesota is the state with the best response rate in the nation at 73.4 percent, while North River, N.D., a 39-acre community with a population of just 56, is the top community in the nation with a 100 percent response rate.
