Problem of Low 2020 Census Participation Will Vary with Sociodemographic Factors and Distance from Metro Areas

Abstract

To identify hard-to-count places, the U.S. Census Bureau has computed low response scores using 25 sociodemographic variables. However, rurality of survey areas was not considered. We find that non-metro counties have lower response rates and that the influence of sociodemographic factors on census responses differs between metro and non-metro counties.