WILLIAMSBURG – The results of the 2020 census are in, and a local library system is proud of its role in helping turnout.

According to a July 23 press release, the Williamsburg Regional Library (WRL) contributed to the engagement process by taking a multi-pronged approach to help local census efforts, including hosting a census summit in February 2020, publishing changes to the census schedule and procedures once the pandemic began and dispatched mobile library services vehicles to community centers to provide census assistance to residents who had not completed their forms at the end of last summer.

When the last census was taken in 2010, the Williamsburg area was underestimated.

According to US Census Bureau reports, the census brings in about $2,000 per year for each person enumerated, or $20,000 per person over a ten-year period. Census money goes towards infrastructure projects like roads, housing and education.

Despite the pandemic, local census self-response increased in 2020. In the city of Williamsburg, this number increased from 64.8% in 2010 to 66.7% in 2020; James City County’s number rose from 72.3% to 79.3%, making it the 10th highest self-response rate of any county in Virginia.