According to information from Wayne County Action Program, who promoted and coordinated volunteers for the Wayne County area of the Census, the count for the 2020 Census concluded at midnight on Thursday, October 15th, and the USA Census conclusion was that Wayne County had a 60.3%  response rate.

That includes all self-response (by mail or online), as well as the Census Bureau’s door-knocking operation to enumerate households in-person or via other records, for households that did not fill out the census form on their own.

The self-response rate does not mean just that percent of Wayne County’s population was counted. Instead, it represents that only that percent of households who gave a response. 

According to the U.S. Census website, 99.8% of households in Wayne County were enumerated, but about 40% chose not to answer, for whatever reason - or that addresses that were considered households in the 2010 census may have been abandoned, torn down, or otherwise uninhabitable.

 Based on the latest census estimates (for the 2014-2018 period), 89,109 people live in 36,504 households in Wayne County, and 1,747 people live in group quarters. (Total population = 90,856.)

New York State ended the Census with a 64.2% response rate.

Low census response does affect  federally-funded programs and services (or State programs which receive federal funding), such as schools, human services, infrastructure projects and, of course, representative government.

It was felt that lower Census numbers for 2020 were also reflective of the political climate and the pandemic. The dates of the Census deadline was also changed several times. Also, the beginning date of the Census in March was at exactly the same time that COVID-19 hit, grinding the door-to-door backup counting to a halt at that crucial time.