SAN ANTONIO – Mayor Ron Nirenberg said Saturday that more than half of San Antonio residents have responded to the U.S. Census, ranking the city at among the top of major Texas cities.
The statewide self-response rate is 50.3 percent and San Antonio is at 52.1 percent, Nirenberg said Saturday night during the city’s daily coronavirus and COVID-19 briefing. For Bexar County, the number is even higher at 53.7 percent, he said.
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Still, Nirenberg urged residents who have not yet completed the self-response to the government survey to do so ASAP. He also asked folks who have already responded to use social media to encourage their community neighbors.
Billions of dollars in federal funding will be allocated across the country, based on the Census. Basically, the more people who are counted in the Census the more financial support from the feds a community will receive.
Millions of dollars in federal funding are on the line for San Antonio, and up to $300 million for Texas. Congressional and state legislative maps, which determine representation in Washington and Austin, are also based on the Census.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the federal government has extended the self-response period to October 31. It was initially scheduled to end July 31.
After that period ends, the government will hire hundreds of thousands of people to go door-to-door to households that have not yet responded.