The Census Bureau says 72 percent of Missouri households have mailed in their 10-question forms. That’s right on the national average but down two percentage points from ten years ago. The 28 percent of Missouri households that still have not mailed in their forms can expect census takers to be knocking on their doors in the next few weeks

Folks in a half-dozen counties don’t seem to care so much for the census. The worst return rate in the state is from Camden County, where only 39 percent of households have sent back the forms. The other five counties are in the 45 to 49 percent range: Reynolds County at 45, Hickory and Wayne at 47 and Taney and Benton counties at 49 percent.

Eight Missouri counties have beaten the national average. But a lot of door-to-door work is ahead even in those counties. Households in Ste Genevieve and Perry Counties have an 82 percent rate. Eighty-one percent of St. Charles County Households have sent their returns back. Five are at 80 percent—Adair, Chariton, Grunty, Madison, and St.Louis Counties.

How did your county or your community do? If you click on the link below you can download return rates for Missouri–or any other state. Since things don’t seem to be listed in any particular order you might have to do some searching. But you can find out how things are this year and compare them to return rates in 2000.

http://2010.census.gov/cgi-bin/staterates.cgi