The main door-to-door phase of the 2000 Census has been completed in Chicago, officials said Wednesday.
All 596,168 Chicago households that had failed to return census forms by mail now have been either contacted directly, described by neighbors or declared vacant, officials said.
The last of Chicago’s nine census offices finished the main phase Wednesday after surmounting unexpected problems in accessing gated communities in the downtown, Streeterville and Gold Coast areas.
Of the 45 offices in the three-state region that includes Chicago, Milwaukee’s office is the only one to reach 100 percent.
All 12 regional offices nationwide are expected to complete the main door-to-door phase in coming days, census officials said. Chicago now ranks marginally ahead of the Detroit, Charlotte, Boston, New York, and Seattle regions.
During the next stage, census workers will recheck addresses found to be vacant or nonexistent and look for new construction.
Meanwhile, a survey is under way that is designed to check the accuracy of the count.
