Census forms should arrive this week

Everyone should expect to see a census form in their mailbox this week. They're going out to 120 million households across the country.

State leaders hope Hoosiers will respond and give the federal government an accurate count, because the results of the census determine how much federal money each state receives. Indiana was one of 31 states that lost out on federal money in the last census, largely because of under-counting of the population.

It's estimated about 47,000 Hoosiers were not counted, costing the state an estimated $227 million for things like medicaid and other social programs. It also affects how the state sends out money to cities and counties in the form of tax revenue and funding for roads.


The form should show up in your mailbox Monday through Wednesday this week (March 15-17th). It's only 10 questions, and officials say it should only take you about 10 minutes to fill out. They're due back at the U.S. Census Bureau by April 1st, and the address is included in the packet you'll be receiving in the mail.

NOTE: It is required by law that you participate if you receive a packet in the mail.

If you don't participate, the census bureau will send a worker out to your house, knocking on your door until they get your answers to the questions. Those census workers will start knocking on doors in May. The federal government already has more than 600,000 of them ready to fan out across the country.