Today, when I was driving home from work, I heard a segment on NPR about this "Take 10 Map" on the Census website that allows folks to track the census mail-in participation rates in an effort to spur a little bit of friendly, census-related competition among communities.

The map is updated each day so the results are pretty close to real-time. So how's Oak Park doing so far? As of this evening, the map says we're at 22 percent. This puts us slightly above the U.S. average of 20 percent and below the Illinois average of 26 percent.

Here's how some of our neighboring towns stacked up as of this evening:
River Forest - 26%
Berywn - 16%
Forest Park - 21%

And for comparison, our sister suburb on the North Shore, Evanston is at 20 percent.

I was especially amazed by the response rates for the communities that made the site's top 50 list. Leighton City, Iowa, is number one at 75 percent. But I'm guessing there isn't a whole lot going on in Leighton City, so residents have had plenty of time to complete and submit their Census forms!