At the official Census 2010 website, you can create a map showing the mail participation rate as of the current date. You can see the rate by county, city, all the way down to census tract, and you can compare participation rates. Here’s the status of five cities as of today:

There’s a friendly competition going on between the mayors of Peoria and Springfield to see who will get a higher participation rate. Springfield is winning, but the stakes are pretty low. The losing mayor has to wear the lapel pin of the winning mayor’s city and issue a proclamation congratulating the winning city. Big deal. If they were really serious about this, the loser would have to do something more humiliating, like have his head shaved, or be put in a dunk tank while the winning mayor pulls the lever.

Within Peoria, the participation rates are higher north of McClure, and lower south of McClure. South Peoria has a 55% to 65% response rate. Moss Bradley area: 66%. The Uplands/Arbor District/Bradley University area: 68%. The Rolling Acres area: 83%. Edgewild/Mt. Hawley area: 87%. Overall, as the image above shows, Peoria is currently has a lower response rate than they did in the 2000 Census.

The participation rate for all of Peoria County as of today is 77%, which is higher than the national participation rate of 71%.