The county is in sync with the national average at a 52 percent return rate, said Margot Grant, census coordinator for the county, running through the latest figures Thursday morning.
Moss Beach and Montara ring in at 52 percent as well. Half Moon Bay and El Granada are a bit above that, at 54 percent each.
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The problem may not be a lack of interest in being counted so much as a distribution system ill equipped to reach people in hard-to-reach places. Several South Coast inhabitants say entire tracts of the region have been missed by the mail-outs.
The federal government “can’t send out actual questionnaires to P.O. Boxes, so that has a big impact on rural areas like the South Coast,” Grant said.
Ad hoc distribution points where people can pick up forms are set up around the South Coast at key community venues, including the Pescadero Post Office, Puente de la Costa Sur, Loma Mar General Store, San Gregorio General Store and AppleJack’s in La Honda.
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