Census Participation Patterns Vary Among Large Cities

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Census Participation Patterns Vary Among Large Cities

A new analysis of 2010 Census participation rates so far has found wide variation from one city to the next in the degree to which race and ethnic characteristics predict response rates.

Nationally, the analysis by the Center for Urban Research at the City University of New York Graduate Center found a consistent association between an area's race and Hispanic makeup and its response rate so far. But in looking closely at the nation's 67 largest cities, the analysis found many local exceptions to nationwide patterns.

For example, neighborhoods where a high share of the population is black tend to have below-average shares of households that have mailed back their census forms. That is even more likely in St. Louis and Boston, the analysis found, but the association is relatively weak in Houston and Atlanta, among others. Neighborhoods that are heavily white have above-average participation rates nationally, but in Honolulu, white neighborhoods have lower participation rates.

Read the full report Census Participation Patterns Vary Among Large Cities on the Pew Research Center's Social and Demographic Trends Web site.

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