Lake Zurich Has High Participation In Census Count

The Village of Lake Zurich received a plaque from the U.S. Department of Commerce Census Bureau at its October 4 meeting, recognizing the high level of participation of its residents in this year's census. 

For the 2010 census count, Lake Zurich residents had a 14 point higher rate of response compared to the national average and 11 points higher than numbers coming out of Chicago.  And that means additional federal dollars for each person that is counted.  

"Approximately $137 is granted from the federal government for each person that we are able to count," said Dan Peterson, director of Building and Zoning for the village.

 As of March 2010, there were 6,300 households in the village and 86 percent of those mailed in census forms.  Those numbers were tallied prior to the door-to-door efforts of census workers in Lake Zurich.

"We estimate that after the efforts of census workers to count households who did not respond to the mail-in forms, we could have as much as 90 percent of our residents counted," said Steve Lasko, a member of the Lake Zurich Complete Count Committee.

That is good news for the village, as Lake Zurich and other municipalities are grappling with the higher cost of doing business, skyrocketing insurance costs and an economy that has yet to swing upward.

The final census numbers are not yet in, but a special census conducted in 2003 put the population at a 19,004. Then in 2008, Lake Zurich was voted as one of the top 100 best places to live  by CNN Money, and the population was counted at 20,300. 

Whatever the numbers turn out to be, village residents did their part to ensure that Lake Zurich was counted.