diff --git a/R/peers.R b/R/peers.R
index 292453e..1919e35 100644
--- a/R/peers.R
+++ b/R/peers.R
@@ -240,6 +240,23 @@ cog_find_peers <- function(target_govid,
 #'     group_by(year) |>
 #'     summarise(p50 = quantile(total, 0.5, na.rm = TRUE))
 #'   ```
+#' @section Reading `coverage`:
+#' `provenance$coverage` reports `n_units_reporting` against
+#' `n_units_expected` per year. **`n_units_reporting` is category-conditional:
+#' it counts cohort members with rows for the category you asked for, not
+#' cohort members collected that year.** A government that was surveyed and
+#' genuinely spends nothing in that category is indistinguishable here from one
+#' that was never surveyed.
+#'
+#' The ratio is therefore **not a response rate** and must not be used as one.
+#' In FY2022 — a complete census year — Georgia reports 393 of 567 cities for
+#' `category = "Police"`; the 174-city gap is overwhelmingly cities that
+#' contract policing to the county sheriff, not non-response.
+#'
+#' The comparison that *is* valid is the same category across a census year
+#' (ending in 2 or 7) and a sample year, where the real-zero component is
+#' roughly constant and the difference reflects the survey cycle. `is_census_year`
+#' marks which is which.
 #' @export
 cog_peer_compare <- function(target_govid, peers, category, years,
                              per_capita = TRUE, adjust_to_year = NULL,
diff --git a/R/rollup.R b/R/rollup.R
index 834fc8b..8edac2d 100644
--- a/R/rollup.R
+++ b/R/rollup.R
@@ -60,6 +60,23 @@
 #'   `codes_included`, `aggregate_fallback`, `scope_note`, `notes`. Carries a
 #'   `provenance` attribute with `verb = "cog_geographic_rollup"`, `layers`,
 #'   and `rollup$included_govids` / `rollup$excluded_govids`.
+#' @section Reading `coverage`:
+#' `provenance$coverage` reports `n_units_reporting` against
+#' `n_units_expected` per year. **`n_units_reporting` is category-conditional:
+#' it counts governments with rows for the category you asked for, not
+#' governments collected that year.** A government that was surveyed and
+#' genuinely spends nothing in that category is indistinguishable here from one
+#' that was never surveyed.
+#'
+#' The ratio is therefore **not a response rate** and must not be used as one.
+#' In FY2022 — a complete census year — Georgia reports 393 of 567 cities for
+#' `category = "Police"`; the 174-city gap is overwhelmingly cities that
+#' contract policing to the county sheriff, not non-response.
+#'
+#' The comparison that *is* valid is the same category across a census year
+#' (ending in 2 or 7) and a sample year, where the real-zero component is
+#' roughly constant and the difference reflects the survey cycle. `is_census_year`
+#' marks which is which.
 #' @export
 cog_geographic_rollup <- function(govids, category, years,
                                   per_capita = FALSE, adjust_to_year = NULL,
diff --git a/man/cog_geographic_rollup.Rd b/man/cog_geographic_rollup.Rd
index d157b5b..15245a6 100644
--- a/man/cog_geographic_rollup.Rd
+++ b/man/cog_geographic_rollup.Rd
@@ -84,3 +84,23 @@ the result. The dropped govids are recorded in
 (gov type 4) and school districts (gov type 5) from per-capita rollups
 by design — see `vignette('population-denominators')`.
 }
+\section{Reading `coverage`}{
+
+`provenance$coverage` reports `n_units_reporting` against
+`n_units_expected` per year. **`n_units_reporting` is category-conditional:
+it counts governments with rows for the category you asked for, not
+governments collected that year.** A government that was surveyed and
+genuinely spends nothing in that category is indistinguishable here from one
+that was never surveyed.
+
+The ratio is therefore **not a response rate** and must not be used as one.
+In FY2022 — a complete census year — Georgia reports 393 of 567 cities for
+`category = "Police"`; the 174-city gap is overwhelmingly cities that
+contract policing to the county sheriff, not non-response.
+
+The comparison that *is* valid is the same category across a census year
+(ending in 2 or 7) and a sample year, where the real-zero component is
+roughly constant and the difference reflects the survey cycle. `is_census_year`
+marks which is which.
+}
+
diff --git a/man/cog_peer_compare.Rd b/man/cog_peer_compare.Rd
index bd8e21a..c918195 100644
--- a/man/cog_peer_compare.Rd
+++ b/man/cog_peer_compare.Rd
@@ -107,3 +107,23 @@ call. Those summary rows are quantiles **within each category**, not
 quantiles of each peer's total — see the `@return` section before summing
 them.
 }
+\section{Reading `coverage`}{
+
+`provenance$coverage` reports `n_units_reporting` against
+`n_units_expected` per year. **`n_units_reporting` is category-conditional:
+it counts cohort members with rows for the category you asked for, not
+cohort members collected that year.** A government that was surveyed and
+genuinely spends nothing in that category is indistinguishable here from one
+that was never surveyed.
+
+The ratio is therefore **not a response rate** and must not be used as one.
+In FY2022 — a complete census year — Georgia reports 393 of 567 cities for
+`category = "Police"`; the 174-city gap is overwhelmingly cities that
+contract policing to the county sheriff, not non-response.
+
+The comparison that *is* valid is the same category across a census year
+(ending in 2 or 7) and a sample year, where the real-zero component is
+roughly constant and the difference reflects the survey cycle. `is_census_year`
+marks which is which.
+}
+
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-all-categories-rollup.R b/tests/testthat/test-all-categories-rollup.R
index 5e43f6e..5b979fe 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-all-categories-rollup.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-all-categories-rollup.R
@@ -38,3 +38,21 @@ test_that('cog_geographic_rollup() still refuses expenditure_concept = "total" w
                           expenditure_concept = "total")
   )
 })
+
+test_that("n_units_reporting is category-conditional, not a response rate", {
+  skip_if_no_corpus()
+  govs <- cog_gov_search(name = NULL, state = "WI", type = 2L)
+  ids  <- list(city = govs$canonical_govid)
+
+  police <- cog_geographic_rollup(ids, category = "Police", years = 2012L)
+  allcat <- cog_geographic_rollup(ids, category = "All Categories", years = 2012L)
+
+  cov_police <- cog_explain(police, format = "list")$coverage
+  cov_all    <- cog_explain(allcat, format = "list")$coverage
+
+  # Same year, same requested govids, same collection -- yet a single category
+  # reports fewer units than the all-categories query. That gap is real zeros,
+  # not non-response, which is exactly why the ratio is not a response rate.
+  expect_lte(cov_police$n_units_reporting, cov_all$n_units_reporting)
+  expect_identical(cov_police$n_units_expected, cov_all$n_units_expected)
+})