Fayette County is currently tied with two other counties in Georgia for the highest response rate for the ongoing Census 2010.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Fayette County as of April 13 is showing a 74 percent response rate which, along with Lee and Oconee counties, is the highest in Georgia. Statewide, the current response rate is 63 percent.
Fayette cities and towns show a similar response to the countywide rate. Fayetteville and Peachtree City both have a 74 percent response rate, with Tyrone at 69 percent, Brooks at 72 percent and Woolsey topping the list at 77 percent.
The return rate for Woolsey comes close to being the highest in Georgia. Only Edgehill, in Glascock County, has edged Woolsey out. Edgehill, Georgia’s least populous municipality with fewer than 30 residents, has a return rate of 78 percent.
Fayette County Planning & Zoning Director Pete Frisina said he hoped the Keep Fayette First initiative will have the county outpace the state in percentage of mail return rates for census forms as it did in 1990 and 2000.
“The least expensive way to have the census taken is to mail in the form,” Frisina said. “Our whole thing is to capitalize on having some of the highest rates like we did in 1990 and 2000. Those numbers give us a good tool to keep working toward to do this again.”
