Census Completion Stats – Where Does Your Community Stand?
(Kurt Metzger, April 3, 2020)
Wednesday, April 1 was Census Day 2020. This is the reference date for the census – the date one uses to determine their place of residence and the number of people living there. It is also the date that Oakland County passed the 50 percent mark in response rate.
The Census Bureau used the March 12-20 period to send out invitations to most of the country (rural areas without standard street addresses – much of the U.P. will receive paper questionnaires delivered by census employees) inviting the occupants to complete their questionnaire online (for the first time) or by phone.
In order for communities to track how well their communities are responding, the Census Bureau set up a Response Rate map that updates daily, providing rates for all states, Congressional Districts, counties, cities, villages, townships and census tracts.
I have created several charts to illustrate where Oakland County and its communities stand in terms of their 2020 Response Rate as of Census Day.
Chart 1 covers counties in SE Michigan. Oakland County has crossed the 50 percent mark, standing at 50.1 percent. This places us in 3rd place behind Livingston and Macomb counties. Wayne County, in last place, has just passed the 40 percent mark, drawn down by Detroit’s 30.8 percent rate.
Chart 2 provides a picture of all communities – cities, villages and townships – in Oakland County. A large number of communities have passed the 50 percent mark, with Huntington Woods, Pleasant Ridge and Novi Township exceeding 60 percent. Several communities, including Lake Angelus, Leonard, Pontiac, and Wixom, have yet to reach the 40 percent mark, while Bloomfield Hills and Keego Harbor just reached 40 percent.
Chart 3 shows the Top 10 2020 Response Rate incorporated communities in the state (let me acknowledge the fact that Novi township leads them all at 72.4% but is not included due to its extremely small size). While the countywide figure just passed 50 percent, four of our communities placed in the Top 10 for response rates. Huntington Woods and Pleasant Ridge placed #s 1 and 2, as two of the three 
communities to surpass the 60 percent threshold, while Beverly Hills and Berkley tied with Cass city for 8th place.
Auburn Hills city 45.1%
Berkley city 58.8%
Beverly Hills village 58.8%
Bingham Farms village 47.7%
Birmingham city 46.5%
Bloomfield Hills city 40.0%
Clawson city 54.6%
Farmington city 44.7%
Farmington Hills city 47.6%
Ferndale city 52.0%
Franklin village 51.5%
Hazel Park city 46.1%
Holly village 48.5%
Huntington Woods city 65.1%
Keego Harbor city 40.6%
Lake Angelus city 38.2%
Lake Orion village 43.2%
Lathrup Village city 53.9%
Leonard village 37.1%
Madison Heights city 50.2%
Milford village 53.0%
Northville city 55.0%
Novi city 51.6%
Oak Park city 48.4%
Orchard Lake Village city 47.2%
Ortonville village 44.3%
Oxford village 50.7%
Pleasant Ridge city 62.0%
Pontiac city 38.1%
Rochester city 51.8%
Rochester Hills city 54.8%
Royal Oak city 54.1%
Southfield city 42.2%
South Lyon city 55.1%
Sylvan Lake city 51.6%
Troy city 52.8%
Village of Clarkston city 52.3%
Walled Lake city 42.8%
Wixom city 36.4%
Wolverine Lake village 50.8%
***
Addison township 48.8%
Bloomfield charter township 52.1%
Brandon charter township 52.4%
Commerce charter township 53.3%
Groveland township 48.4%
Highland charter township 48.4%
Holly township 48.8%
Independence charter township 53.8%
Lyon charter township 55.7%
Milford charter township 53.2%
Novi township 72.4%
Oakland charter township 55.8%
Orion charter township 57.3%
Oxford charter township 54.2%
Rose township 52.6%
Royal Oak charter township 47.1%
Southfield township 56.3%
Springfield charter township 53.8%
Waterford charter township 51.4%
West Bloomfield charter township 49.9%
White Lake charter township 52.1%
I congratulate all the communities that are doing so well and encourage the others to continue to publicize the census and encourage their residents, who are hopefully staying in place, to find their census invitation and follow the steps for completion.
If you’ve not done so yet, go to https://2020census.gov to be counted!
