Seven Cities Still Under 60% for Census Returns, County is 6th in the State
(Kurt Metzger, April 29, 2020)
Oakland County, MI – It is now five weeks since the Census Bureau mailed out invitations to participate in the 2020 Census. Since then, households have been responding online, by phone, or through requested paper questionnaires.
In normal times, the Census Bureau would be moving into the follow-up phase when they send out enumerators to knock on the doors of addresses from which no response has been received. Of course, due to COVID-19, this phase has been delayed, as has every other stage of the process. In fact, the Census Bureau has requested that their constitutionally mandated date of March 31, 2021 for turning over detailed data to the states for redistricting be pushed back to July 31. This would be the first time since 1790 (first census) that such a delay has occurred. In lieu of enumerators, the Bureau will begin sending out reminder postcards this week in hopes of increasing self-response and decreasing the expense of enumerators later.
I have analyzed the latest response rate data that the Census Bureau released yesterday afternoon, covering 
responses received through Saturday, April 25. Here are the major findings across communities in Oakland County.
The response rate for the county as a whole is now 67.5 percent. This places Oakland sixth among all Michigan counties, with Livingston (70.3%) and Macomb (70.0%) ranking 1st and 2nd.
Among cities and villages, Huntington Woods continues to rank #1 (as it does nationally) with a rate of 84.9 percent. Pleasant Ridge comes in 2nd at 81.3 percent, and Beverly Hills is 3rd at 78.5 percent.
Seven communities still have rates below 60 percent, with Wixom at the bottom (49.9%), followed by Pontiac (51.2%). Others are Lake Angelus (51.5%), Lake Orion (56.4), Keego Harbor (57.5), Bloomfield Hills (58.2%), and Southfield (58.8%)
On the township side of the equation, Novi Township comes in first at 84.5 percent, followed by Oakland Township (76.7%) and Southfield Township (76.0%). No township had a rate below 60 percent, as Royal Oak Township was lowest at 62.2 percent, followed by Highland Township (64.5%) and Groveland Township (64.6%).
One final observation. The closing of schools has brought the issue of internet access to the fore. School districts across the state are finding that online learning is a somewhat reasonable (though expensive) alternative to being in class if students have access to computers and internet. Access has been shown to be problematic in poorer districts with high shares of students of color, and arrangements have had to be made to deliver laptops and WIFI hotspots to large numbers of students.
The fact that the 2020 Census is online allows the tracking of the share of responses made online. While the majority of Oakland County communities are responding at online rates over 90 percent (7 communities above 99 percent), we see Royal Oak township at only 45.7 percent, Pontiac at 63.7 percent, and Hazel Park and Southfield at 80 percent. If nothing else, this pandemic has clearly shown the inequities across communities and demographic groups. It is my hope that serious discussions around equal access to educational resources will be one result of this pandemic.
If you’ve not done so yet, go to https://2020census.gov to be counted!
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