2010 Census Comes in Under Budget; Returning $1.6 Billion to Treasury

WASHINGTON (Aug. 10) -- Thanks to a better-than-expected response rate, lots of advertising and a little luck, the Commerce Department announced today that it is returning to the Treasury $1.6 billion in savings from the 2010 Census.

Planning for the 2010 Census began about 12 years ago, and $14.7 billion was budgeted for the entire life cycle of the 2010 Census. The refund represents 22 percent of the Census Bureau's $7.4 billion budget for 2010. Even with those savings, it will still be the most expensive census ever because of a larger, more diverse and harder-to-count population.

The Census returned $305 million to the Treasury in 2000.

"With proficient management, the cooperation of the American public and a little bit of luck, the Census stayed on track with significant cost savings to taxpayers," Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said in a statement. He credited Census Director Robert Groves for cutting costs and counting the population more efficiently.

How the money was saved:

Good response rate. Because 72 percent of households mailed back their questionnaire -- matching the rate in 2000 -- fewer homes had to be visited to fill in the blanks. That saved $650 million.
More efficient workers. The economic downturn freed up more highly educated applicants to fill census jobs. The workers knocked on 47 million doors and, despite charges from a conservative filmmaker about lazy and fraudulent enumerators, completed more interviews in less time. Many follow-up interviews were accomplished in about two visits even though the budget allowed for up to six visits to a household.
Advertising blitz. When response data on March 30 identified 23 media markets with 17.7 million households that seriously lagged in returning their forms, the Census added $32 million to its $140 million advertising budget in those areas, including New York, Houston and Tampa Bay, Fla. The saturation ad buy reduced low performers to just 10 markets with 1.6 million households by April 20, lowering the cost of door-to-door canvassing of laggards.
Mother Nature cooperated. There were no natural disasters, including a feared H1N1 virus outbreak. About $800 million had been set aside to cover contingencies that didn't take place.
Remote area savings. An additional $150 million was saved early on when counting the population in Alaska and tribal areas came in at a lower-than-expected cost.
Troubleshooting. Daily meetings to troubleshoot a glitch-prone software system used to manage the work of nearly 600,000 census takers allowed operations managers to reduce problems and cut costs.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, accused the Census Bureau of making "misleading claims," noting that the final cost of the population count will be 54 percent more expensive than in 2000 and half of the money being returned had been set aside for contingencies that didn't pan out.

"It is outrageous for the Census to tout cost-savings success," said Chaffetz, a frequent critic of the Census. He said that even after adjusting for inflation, the cost per household of conducting the census increased from $79 per household in 2000 to $122 per household in 2010.

The Census refund won't make much of a dent in a federal deficit that tops $1.4 trillion, but the Commerce Department said some of the savings have already been spoken for: the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office got $150 million of the savings recently to clear up a backlog of patent applications.