The Urban Institute has published a report identifying the populations at risk for being miscounted in the 2020 U.S. Census. According to the Institute, the decennial census, which aims to count every US resident each decade, is critical to our democracy. It affects congressional seats and funding decisions at every level of government.
But the 2020 Census faces unprecedented challenges and threats to its accuracy. Demographic changes over the past decade will make the population harder to count. And underfunding, undertested process changes, and the last-minute introduction of a citizenship question could result in serious miscounts, potentially diminishing communities’ rightful political voice and share of funding.
To understand how these factors could affect the 2020 Census counts, the Urban Institute created projections under three scenarios—reflecting the miscount risk as low, medium, or high. Access the report at https://apps.urban.org/features/2020-census/?elq_cid=2420582&x_id=.