With just about a month to go before the U.S. census wraps up, about one-third of American households have not responded. Respond online at 2020census.gov, by mail, over the phone or by interview from a census taker.

The decennial census is meant to count every person living in the United States and its five territories.

This is a daunting task even under the best circumstances, but this census is being conducted in the midst of a worldwide pandemic. In addition, the deadline has been moved from Oct. 31 to Sept. 30.

The 2020 census will allocate congressional representation, determine hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding and provide important statistics.

Some of the things determined by the census count are infrastructure funding, support for families in need and the school lunch program.

The census asks basic questions about you and those living in your household as of April 1. There are no questions about citizenship.

The U.S. Census Bureau is required by law to keep responses strictly confidential. Each employee takes an oath to protect your personal information for life. The Census Bureau will never ask for your Social Security number, money or donations, anything on behalf of a political party or your bank or credit card account numbers.

To verify the authenticity of a census taker, make sure they have a valid ID badge with photograph, a U.S. Department of Commerce watermark and an expiration date. For questions, call 844-330-2020. Spanish-speaking residents can call 844-468-2020.

The percentage of households counted in Northampton County is 74.2 percent, while Lehigh County is 73.2 percent. These figures are substantially higher than the national rate, which is just 64 percent, and the state rate of 66.9 percent.

Here are community counts as of mid-August.

Northampton: Hanover Township (Northampton only), 87.4 percent; Allen Township, 85.7 percent; Upper Nazareth Township, 84.6 percent; Lower Nazareth Township, 84.2 percent; Bushkill Township, 83.4 percent; Palmer Township, 82.9 percent; Forks Township, 82.7 percent; Bethlehem Township, 82.7 percent; Moore Township, 82.6 percent; Allen Township, 82.4 percent; Lower Saucon Township, 81.3 percent; Lehigh Township, 78.6 percent; Washington Township, 78.1 percent; North Catasauqua, 77.9 percent; Plainfield Township, 77.3 percent; Northampton, 77 percent; Walnutport, 75 percent; Williams Township, 74.3 percent; Wind Gap, 73.7 percent; Roseto, 73.4 percent; Bath, 72.5 percent; Hellertown, 72.1 percent; Nazareth, 71.6 percent; West Easton, 71.3 percent; Chapman, 70.8 percent; Upper Mount Bethel Township, 70.6 percent; Pen Argyl, 69.4 percent; Wilson, 68.2 percent; Bethlehem (Northampton only), 67.8 percent; Bangor, 67.7 percent; East Bangor, 67.2 percent; Freemansburg, 65.9 percent; Tatamy, 65.3 percent; Lower Mount Bethel Township, 63.8 percent; Glendon, 59.9 percent; Easton, 59.2 percent; Portland, 51.2 percent; and Stockertown, 38.1 percent

Lehigh: Lowhill Township, 85.8 percent; Lower Macungie Township, 84.6 percent; Upper Milford Township, 82.3 percent; North Whitehall Township, 81.8 percent; Upper Saucon Township, 81.6 percent; Lower Milford Township, 81.5 percent; Weisenberg Township, 81.4 percent; South Whitehall Township, 80.9 percent; Alburtis, 80.3 percent; Washington Township, 80.3 percent; Salisbury Township, 80.2 percent; Heidelberg Township, 79.8 percent, Emmaus, 79.3 percent; Lynn Township, 78.5 percent; Coopersburg, 78.3 percent; Macungie, 78.2 percent; Coplay, 77.2 percent; Whitehall Township, 76.4 percent; Upper Macungie Township, 75.7 percent; Catasauqua, 72.3 percent; Fountain Hill, 71.4 percent; Hanover Township (Lehigh only), 70.4 percent; Slatington, 69.8 percent; Bethlehem (Lehigh only), 67.7 percent; and Allentown, 61.1 percent.

Editor’s note: Bruce Frassinelli is a former newspaper editor and currently a contributor to the opinion page of the TIMES NEWS, Lehighton, our sister daily newspaper.