With a Sept. 30 deadline looming, Florida and Georgia continue to lag behind much of the nation in responding to the U.S. census.
The push to get more people to respond to the census is ramping up.
As of Sunday, 90.7% of Georgia households and 92.5% of Florida households had responded in the once-a-decade exercise, below the national rate of 95.4%, according to information released Monday by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Only seven other states -- Alabama, Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico and North Carolina -- had lower response rates than Florida.
Data collection will end Sept. 30 for the census, which plays a key role in apportioning congressional seats and divvying up federal money among states, including Medicare and Medicaid, food stamps, and child-care programs.