The populations of states in the South and West were significantly undercounted by the Census Bureau last year, according to just-released numbers.
Altogether, the Census Bureau provided marginally incorrect numbers for 14 states in its 2020 census, with states in or near the Delta seeing the largest inaccuracies: the undercount rate in Arkansas was 5%, followed by 4% in Mississippi, and another 4% in Tennessee.
In the West, Texas had an undercount of nearly 2%, while Utah had a 2.5% overcount.
Most of the other states in the overcount category were in the upper East and Midwest.
In a statement, Robert Santos, director of the Census Bureau, remarked: “The release of the Post Enumeration Survey estimates assist us in understanding how well we did this decade, state by state, in our efforts to count everyone living in the United States.”
Referencing the Covid-19 outbreak, which stymied some of the Census’ field survey work, Santos added: “Achieving an accurate count for all 50 states and the District of Columbia is always a difficult endeavor, and these results suggest it was difficult again in 2020, particularly given the unprecedented challenge we faced.”
A report issued earlier this year by the Census Bureau called National Census Coverage Estimates for People in the United States by Demographic Characteristic, contended that African Americans, Native Americans, and Hispanic residents were undercounted, while white and Asian populations were overcounted.
Similarly, people over the age of 50 were overcounted, while those younger than that age were undercounted. Continues the report: “Adult males were undercounted, and adult females were overcounted in the 2020 Census.”
The corrected figures are not expected to have a larger impact on the earlier reported Census figures, which showed a significant population increases primarily in the West, especially in Texas, Colorado, Montana, and Oregon, and somewhat less so in Arizona and Nevada.
By Garry Boulard
