There’s still time to complete the 2020 Census, though it’s running out.

All U.S. Census offices will have their work completed by Sept. 30 in order to meet the statutory deadline of Dec. 31; in order to ensure an accurate count, all residents who have not yet completed their census form either by mail or online, or has responded to a census worker in-person at their door, must submit it by the end of the month.

Washington state had a high response rate as of the end of August. A total of 97.5 percent of state households had either self-responded or answered the door for a census worker. The self-response rate in Kitsap County was 74.5 percent, the fifth highest of all Washington counties.

Invitations to respond were sent out early in 2020 and can be completed by mail, by phone at 844-330-2020 or online at my2020census.gov.

The census can also be completed by responding to a census worker at your door. Census workers will have a valid government identification with a photograph, a U.S. Department of Commerce watermark and an expiration date on their badge.

Census workers are people from the local community who visit households that do not respond online or by mail to interview residents to collect the census information. If you want to confirm the identity of a census worker, call the Regional Census Office at 213-314-6500.

Another group of specially trained census workers will conduct a homeless count Sept. 22-24.

The census is undertaken once every 10 years. The number of people in each state determines how many seats they get in the House of Representatives and is used to draw congressional and state legislative districts, which begins after receiving Census Bureau information by March 31, 2021.

The results from the census will also affect how federal funding is allocated to its many social programs, including Medicaid and SNAP, as well as block grants for community mental health services. Data is also used to show where new roads, schools, clinics and services are needed.