Around 62 percent of Boone residents have participated in the 2010 U.S. Census as of April 26, according to census records on 2010.census.gov.

Boone’s participation rate is 6 percent lower than Watauga County’s current average and is 12 percent lower than North Carolina’s current average participation rate.

The current national participation rate is 72 percent.

After each Appalachian residence hall was given the appropriate amount of census forms earlier this year, each resident director and assistant devised their own method of census completion, Jeff Doyle, department of housing and residence life director, said.

“We gave out the censuses and said the census needs a minimum of an 80 percent response rate, but let’s shoot for 100,” Doyle said. “It was sort of up to each building to figure out how they wanted to try and get as high of a response rate as they could.”