The 2020 Census is about a month away and local government remains hard at work to make sure everyone gets counted. The census determines how $675 billion dollars of federal funding gets distributed.

The U.S. Census Bureau has counted the countries’ population every 10 years since 1790. The money that North Carolina gets from federal and state government is dependent on the number of people counted.

Orange County Board of Commissioner, Sally Greene, said each person in the county plays a big part in garnering funding from the government.

“Every person who is counted in the census in North Carolina is going to pull down for their county $1,623 dollars from the federal government and an additional $200 dollars from the state government,” Greene said. “So for everybody that we miss, that’s that much money that’s left on the table.”

As Census Day on April 1 grows closer, Greene said residents can expect a letter between March 12 and 20 asking to go online or respond to the census via mail. This is the first year people can respond to the census online.

A week after the initial letter, you will get another reminder letter, whether you have already filled out the census or not.

“Those are already set to go out, so you may get one and think ‘wait a minute I just did this’ but just bear in mind that that’s how the program runs,” Greene said.

After that, if you still don’t fill out the census form, you will get a final reminder postcard in late April and then the last resort will be census workers out door-knocking in local neighborhoods.

Greene said Orange County is currently facing a shortage of these Census workers – including the people who go around knocking on doors. She said these jobs are crucial for getting an accurate population count and could also be beneficial to your wallet.

“Those are fairly good part-time hourly jobs,” Greene said. “They pay $13.50 or more per hour plus gas and other expenses. So if you’re interested in those jobs, go to 2020census.gov/jobs and you can apply online.”

While these in-person door-knockers and other census workers will be very clearly identified, with visible badges and ID, Greene said that’s not the case for potential scammers online.

She said people should use caution as they receive information about the census online, as there have already been several cases of online scamming in North Carolina.

“When you get information from the census, it’s not going to ask for your social security number, it’s not going to ask for a credit card and it’s not going to ask for a political donation,” Greene said.

Overall, Greene said the most important thing to do as we move closer to census day on April 1 is to cooperate, sign up and be counted.

(Photo courtesy of Orange County government)

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