Richard Florida examines the factors that might drive census participation:
The short answer is that in terms of who fills out census forms, personality is the only thing that seems to matter. We found no correlation between census participation and key economic and demographic variables like income, economic output, education level, or type of jobs. But we found some considerable correlation between states where more people filled out their census forms and three of what psychologists term the Big Five personality types — especially in states with high concentrations of agreeable people, extroverts, and open-to-experience types.
For instance:
States with large concentrations of agreeable people were most likely to complete their census forms.
And:
States with large concentrations of extroverts were also more likely to complete their forms.
I’m not sure where I fall on the map, but I admit to turning it in just this week. I think that might make me an agreeable extrovert. But a late one.
