ShareThisThey might be mistaken for meter readers or tax assessors or solicitors, bearing hand-held computers and checking out properties up and down the street, but all they want is your address.
The U.S. Census Bureau is making a list, a huge list of some 145 million residential addresses nationwide, between now and mid-July.
Then, this time next year, the bureau will try to find how many people, and who, live at each address. The early estimate is that more than 310 million Americans will need to be found and polled.
The 2010 Census marks the first time that the government's enumerators will be using computers linked to Global Positioning Satellites to pinpoint and verify the location of each housing unit to ensure next's years tallies are assigned to the right census tract.
It's also the first time that group quarters, like dormitories, group homes, prisons and homeless shelters, will be included in the address checking.
Counting people in the right neighborhood and town is important because the numbers not only determine how legislative districts are drawn, but also how more than $300 billion a year in federal funds are divided, plus state and local decisions on where roads, parks and schools are built and what programs are provided.
The address canvassing crews, some 140,000 strong, are being paid a starting wage of between $10 (in Oklahoma and Kansas) and $22 (San Francisco) an hour, depending on the jurisdiction they're covering. The pay scale generally follows the differential pay scale used for other federal workers, based on costs and prevailing wages around the country.
The government also reimburses workers who drive or take public transit for their costs.
The same rates will apply for the larger number of temporary workers needed to collect information from households that fail to return census forms sent out by mail next spring.
The forms are going to be streamlined -- no long questionnaires will be used for the routine count. All the government wants to know is how many people live at each address, how long they've lived there, their name, sex, date of birth, ethnicity and relationship to anyone else at the address. Longer surveys will still be mailed out, but on a different cycle throughout the next decade.
Temporary, full- or part-time positions have mostly been filled for the address search, but the bureau is still taking applications through 151 district offices for many of the estimated half million door-knockers who will be needed to find people.
Census takers have to be able to read, write and speak English, be at least 18 years old, have a Social Security number and valid drivers license, and be a U.S. citizen. A written test and background check is also required.
Local Census Bureau officials can also hire legal permanent residents or non-citizens with work visas if they have second language skills that can't be found among citizens who apply. And hiring of workers to canvass neighborhoods that they know is encouraged.
Below is the starting hourly pay rate for Census takers at various local offices nationwide.
Anchorage, Alaska - $17.50
New York City -- $18.75
Chicago, Ill. - $18.25
Tacoma, Wash. - $13.25
Seattle -- $17.50
San Francisco - $22
Sarasota, Fla. -- $12.75
Phoenix - $15
Santa Maria, Calif. -- $15.50
Corpus Christi, Texas -- $10.50
Port St. Lucie, Fla. -- $11.75
Knoxville, Tenn. - $12
Memphis, Tenn. - $11.25
Columbia, S.C. -- $11
Midland, Texas -- $10.75
Cincinnati, Ohio - $13.25
Cleveland, Ohio -- $13.25
Tulsa, Okla. -- $10.25
Detroit - $16
Baltimore - $16
Kansas City, Mo. -$10.25
Evansville, Ind. -- $12.25
Topeka, Kan. -$10
Washington, D.C. - $20
On the Net: http://2010.census.gov/2010census/
E-mail Lee Bowman at bowmanl(at)shns.com.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
