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arrives will contribute to saving hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars," Groves added. "It's a lot less expensive to get responses back by mail than it is to send census takers to knock on doors of households that failed to respond."
"It costs the government just 42 cents for a postage paid envelope when a household mails back the form," said Groves. "It costs $57 to send a census taker door-to-door to follow up with each household that fails to respond."
Advance letters alerting households to the arrival of the 2010 Census form last week, as well as reminder postcards sent later this month, are all part of a mailing strategy that has been proven to increase participation in the census by mail -- a cost savings that could exceed more than $500 million.
Even with these changes to make the census the shortest and easiest in a lifetime, the Census Bureau still projects that it will have to send census takers to an estimated 48 million households that do not respond by mail. Following up door-to-door to count households from May to July will require hiring about 650,000 census workers.
Participating in the census is required by law for everyone living in the United States, and the public is encouraged to promptly mail back their 2010 Census forms once they are delivered this week between March 15-17. About 12 million addresses, mostly in rural areas as well as Gulf Coast areas affected by Hurricane Katrina, began receiving hand-delivered forms March 1.
Census data also help determine how more than $400 billion in federal funds are distributed to tribal, state and local governments every year -- including funding for schools, roads, health care and other critical programs.
As a way of
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