KNOXVILLE, Tenn — If you haven't completed your 2020 Census, time is running out!
Everything from federal funding for highways to schools and health care depends on completing the 10-minute questionnaire.
According to Census 2020, 93 million households, nearly 63 percent of all households in the nation, have responded to the census. The response rate in Tennessee is 62 percent, which is ranked 27 in the country.
Census Day was on April 1 and the Census Bureau began following up with homes that have not responded to the census in July.
Field collections will end Sept. 30 to meet the end of the year deadline to turn in numbers on time.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, door-to-door operations were temporarily suspended and this is causing large rural communities, that often rely on door-to-door volunteers, to lag behind the rest of the nation.
Centro Hispano in Knoxville is helping with the city's Complete Count Committee to reach out to minority communities to make sure more people are represented.
"We've really done a lot. The videos that we have online has gotten more than 20,000 views. We've visited more than 600 families before the pandemic began. And now we're just pushing the message in everything we do," said President of Centro Hispano Claudia Caballero.
Ultimately, this could cost some states congressional seats and federal funding for highways, schools and health care but it's not too late to be counted.