If you live in the US do you fill out the Census Form when it comes?

Yes I fill it out. Probably not in exactly the way they wish I would though.
It is necessary to be counted so that we can be properly (?) represented. (As if that really happens most of the time)
Some of their questions I get creative with, such as under race, I always put “other”.

No.I wait for them to call. They have to work for me.

The census questions are hardly personal. In fact it’s laughable anyone would describe them as too personal.

I will do it but I think it is redundant. When I was born I was given a birth certificate and social security number. That number is attached to my school records, credit report, and employment records. I just got my social security report telling me how much I’ve paid into social security. They really know I am here. Really. I am a registered voter, my drivers license has my accurate address in the DMV system, every time I work they take out taxes and trust me in April the IRS knows exactly where I am. I suppose all the fuss is to try to count the people who live under the radar. I think they have a very very good idea of their population and where the majority of us are. I will fill out the report, but it won’t tell them anything they don’t already know.

Can we just do it online? It would be nice to save a tree.

if a baby was born in the last few years and has not yet started school, the baby could have been moved to different towns, thereby altering the population and demographics of those towns, and the government has not accounted for that by the methods @escapedone7 mentions above. that’s one example of why it’s important for people to fill out the form.

Sure, why wouldn’t I? They’ll start going door to door if people don’t answer by mail, and won’t stop until they’ve reached someone. No reason to waste their time and money generating useful information.

I just got one today. I am excited! It is my first one!

Correction: I just got a letter that says I will get one in a week. What a waste of paper and postage and what a disappointment. Shit!

If you live in a dorm on a university campus do you not get one? Because I never did…

@lilikoi : i wonder if college students that live in dorms are counted in the home from which they came, in other words, their parents homes?

I am curious to see if I get one! I never have. In 2000 I even called them to let them know that I had been overlooked…again!! Gave them my name, address, phone number, but nothing else as they were goung to send a form ‘right out!”
I have two children under 30 who have never been counted! I would feel lucky if it meant they let me slide under the radar for taxes and other fun stuff. Ha! Like THAT’S gonna happen.
I guess you might see why I consider this a waste of my tax dollars!

Here there are census takers who go door-to-door. I found my questionnaire hanging on my back door in a plastic bag. It took three minutes to fill out. Why not?

Considering that you further inflate the cost of the Census by not filling it out, it’s important. There’s also the concepts of ‘funding’ and ‘representation’, but those are just useless.

Absolutely. I consider it a civic duty and, like jury duty, I would never try to avoid it.

@augustlan I agree. Also I will gladly contribute all information about myself that is already public.

I will fill out the census form when it arrives. i am proud to live in America and i have nothing to hide.

I only wish i could say the same for illegal immigrants.

Do you believe they will fill out a census form, when it arrives?

I’m a history buff and there are things in the census that will help our great-great-great grandchildren learn about our population. Future social scientists will use it to learn more about their own time.

I consider it an honor to be able to live in a time where I, as a woman, have been afforded the opportunity to read and write- let alone to be able to have my ‘data’ count.

@gemiwing: True; I have discovered things about my grandparents and their kids from the censuses of 1900, 1910 and 1920. In one the census taker had my paternal grandfather speaking Russian; that was crossed out and changed to Polish, both of which were right. My grandmother’s name was also incorrect.