Eastern Long Island is lagging behind the rest of New York, and the U.S., in responding to the 2020 Census.
The national response rate to the Census is nearly 62%. New York’s response rate is above 58%.
Eastern Long Island’s response rate is less than 50%.
The lowest response is from the Hamptons, where less than 15% have filled out the Census questionnaire by mail, phone or online. The Hamptons has a large summer population, which means there are many hard-to-count, wealthy second homeowners and immigrant workers who rent seasonally.
Other communities hard hit by COVID-19 have low response rates, like the Town of Southold, with 36%. The Census count is delayed by the pandemic.
Nassau County has the highest response rate in New York, at nearly 68%. Suffolk County is doing better than the rest of the state, and is on par with the national average.
The deadline for responding to the Census is October 31.
