Advance-Warning Letters from Census Could Save Taxpayers Millions

The U.S. Census Bureau is mailing about 120 million letters reminding people to fill out their 2010 Census forms, which should arrive March 15 to 17. The early notification letters mailed today urges households to complete the 10-question form and return it in the prepaid envelope as soon as possible.

In addition to notifying people their Census forms will arrive soon, the advance letters are expected to save the Census Bureau money and increase response rates. The more mail-back responses received by the Census Bureau, the fewer census workers have to walk door to door to follow up with households that didn't return a letter. For every 1 percent increase in responses, taxpayers save about $85 million in operational costs, according to Census Bureau research.

In addition to English, the advance letter includes messages in Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Russian.

And for the first time, the bureau is sending bilingual advance letters and forms to more than 13 million households in areas where Spanish is the primary language spoken at home.

The U.S. Census is used to count residents and help the federal government determine where to send federal funding and resources for school, hospitals, roads and other services until the next census in 10 years. Required by the U.S. Constitution, it is also used to determine how many seats will be assigned to each state in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The 2010 Census is one of the shortest in history. Officials expect the 10-question survey to take 10 minutes to finish.