El Paso among top 10 counties in Texas for 2020 Census response

EL PASO, Texas -- The El Paso County Commissioners were given some good news on Monday when they heard from the El Paso Census Action Team about the census response rate.

As the actual counting portion of the 2020 Census has now officially ended, Monday's presentation was the last in a series of meetings given to county commissioners comparing El Paso’s response numbers to the rest of the state and beyond.

According to that presentation, not only did El Paso Count crack the top 10 for all Texas counties, it came in seventh place with a response rate of 66.8 percent.

For comparison, the overall response rate for the state of Texas currently stands at 62.8 percent.

The top responding communities included Horizon City, which pulled in 74.4 percent.

El Paso City leaders welcomed the news and praised the team for working through difficult conditions.

According to the Borderland leaders, having a one percent population undercount would cost Texas $300 million in federal funding.

“The investment that the city and the county made here was substantial to make sure that we have good after action discussions and that we can outline how to do things better," El Paso County Precinct 2 Commissioner David Stout said. "Hopefully the next time around we won’t be living through a deadly pandemic as we try to do this sort of thing.”

According to the presentation, El Paso is one of the most well-counted and well-represented border communities in the state.