Just over one-third of Coloradans have responded to the 2020 census, slightly above the nationwide response rate of 33.1% to date.

No state has seen the majority of its households respond to the census since the U.S. Census Bureau mailed invitations to participate earlier this month, but the upper Midwest states of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa all had response rates at or approaching 40%. Self-responses over the Internet, phone or by mail are the first phase of the decennial count. Households that do not self-respond will then have a visit from a census taker. In the previous census of 2010, Colorado’s final self-response rate was 67% of households. 

Within Colorado, Congressional District 6, which encompasses Aurora and areas to the south and east of Denver, has the highest rate of households participating so far, at 39%. Congressional District 3, covering the Western Slope, has the lowest rate of participation at 26%.

Census data will determine congressional representation for the next 10 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, and will inform the redrawing of districts in legislative bodies at the state and local levels. Federal funding and other demographic data rely on information gleaned from the census, too. 

The bureau announced over the weekend that it will pause its field operations through mid-April due to the spread of COVID-19 coronavirus, although self-responses will be accepted continuously.