The Census ended on October 15, and we are extremely proud of Maryland’s accomplishments during this decennial event. With the kickoff for the Census coinciding with the beginning of a nationwide pandemic and stay-at-home orders, marketing plans were modified from a mostly out-of-home advertising campaign to a more digital and in-home approach. Further, we added a paid social media campaign in targeted areas to reach thousands of families where programs and services are highly utilized.

Fortunately, long before counting began, approximately $5 million in funding was provided through the 2020 Census Grant program to nonprofit organizations and local jurisdictions for Census activities and promotion in communities across the state. This funding enabled recipients to directly connect with members of their communities and reach hard-to-count populations. Despite not being able to host large, community gatherings, grant recipients were able to adapt their plans in order to reach communities in need.

Most importantly, partnership efforts with a variety of governmental agencies, nonprofit organizations and business and faith leaders paved the way for disseminating information to a wide array of communities through trusted leaders. A key factor of these partnerships and the subsequent success of the Census in Maryland was the engagement and leadership of the Statewide Complete Count Committee (CCC) in addition to working with local CCC chairs from each of Maryland’s 24 jurisdictions. These committees led the way in ensuring that everything possible was being done to reach those who might otherwise have gone uncounted.  

We applaud the efforts of the state and local complete count committees as well as the tireless efforts of the many Census ambassadors and Maryland Census Champions. This Census was a success for our state due to a multitude of collaborations between state and local agencies in partnership with individuals and organizations working toward a common goal. The Maryland Department of Planning is extremely grateful to our partners for their dedication and commitment to a complete count.

Census Stats Show Maryland’s Accomplishment

As of October 16, the last official day of counting operations, Maryland’s self-response rate finished at 71.2 percent, while the national rate landed at 67.0 percent. Maryland came in 9th place in the nation for self-response, just .1 percent behind number 8 Michigan.  We also finished 2nd in the mid-Atlantic region, just behind Virginia at 71.4 percent; and finished ahead of Pennsylvania (69.6 percent), Delaware (64.9 percent), the District of Columbia (63.9 percent), and West Virginia (56.2 percent).

More granular statistics show just how successful Maryland’s Census efforts were and what they accomplished. Four Maryland Counties finished in the top 100 for the country. Carroll County tied for number 24 in the entire U.S. out of 3,200+ counties ending at 81.5 percent. Howard County finished tied at 31 with an 80.7 percent self-response rate. Harford County tied at 83^rd in the country with 78.4 percent and Frederick County completed the Census tied at 88 with 78.3 percent. Twenty-three Maryland counties/jurisdictions achieved self-response rates of more than 50 percent and 14 counties’ rates exceed the national average. Every county/jurisdiction in Maryland exceeded their 2010 self-response rates with the exception of Allegany County and Baltimore City.  The first Maryland county to exceed their 2010 self-response rate was St. Mary’s County, all the way back on May 22, just two months into the 2020 Census.

These figures mean more federal funding for Maryland for critical programs and services used by all Marylanders every day.

View Maryland County and Municipality Response Rates at the MDP’s Census 2020 Response Rate At-A-Glance Dashboard