Here are the U.S. Census Bureau's Mail Response Rates from the 1990 Census for state, local, and tribal governmental entities.  Select from the following state list to see the rates for the counties, minor civil divisions (MCDs), places and tribal entities within that state.  For each state, counties and MCDs are listed first, followed by places and tribal entities.  If a tribal entity crosses state lines, it is listed under all appropriate states, but the mail response rate is calculated only on that portion of the reservation that falls within the state being displayed.

The mail response rates were calculated only for those areas of the country where either the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) or Census Bureau staff delivered questionnaires to addresses prior to Census Day (April 1).  In these areas, respondents completed the quesionnaire and returned it to the Census Bureau through the mail.  If a jurisdiction was enumerated solely by the list/enumerate methodology, i.e, a Census Bureau enumerator delivered the questionnaire to the address and personally interviewed the household, writing the answers on the questionnaire, it will not be displayed.  Note also that the jurisdictional boundaries reflect 1990 definitions.

Mail response rate is defined as the ratio of two numbers x 100.  The denominator is the number of addresses that receive a questionnaire from either the USPS or Census Bureau staff.  The numerator is the number of these addresses for which the Census Bureau receives a questionnaire back through the mail. Mail response rate covers all of those questionnaires that are returned before the nonresponse followup universe is determined.

The links to the mail response rates below are based on 1990 geographic boundaries.

1990 Mail Response Rates, Adjusted for 2000 Geographic Boundaries

Facts on Geographic Boundary Changes

The response rates reported on the fact sheet have been adjusted for any changes to your localities/entities' geographic boundaries since 1990. Specifically, we calculated the response rate for the geographic boundaries that localities/entities generally reported to be accurate as of January 1, 1999.

The percentages may be a little different from those reported in 1990, which were generally based on 1990 geographic boundaries. Adjusting the rates for the 1999 boundaries enables us to provide you with a more accurate basis of comparison for your locality's response rates for Census 2000.

Similarly, those areas that did not exist in 1990, or were not part of the mailback process, have been assigned the national 1990 response rate of 65 percent.