Weekly Spotlight: A Costly Miscalculation

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The decennial U.S. census is more than just a headcount: The data from the national tally figures into how the federal government distributes funding to states for everything from public schools to housing vouchers to veterans' support. When a state’s population is miscounted, it can cost them — sometimes to the tune of literal billions, as is the case of Texas. 

Over the last few years, we’ve been measuring and reporting on how exactly census numbers figure into federal assistance so we can inform and collaborate with state and local groups who want to understand where taxpayer dollars are going (and where — and to whom — they aren’t).  

POGO Senior Policy Analyst Sean Moulton recently worked with the Texas Census Institute to evaluate how Texas’ self-induced undercount in the 2020 census is hurting the state’s communities today: They found that its 1.92% undercount will lose the state $25.1 billion in federal funding over the course of this decade. Read their report to learn more.  

REPORT

Dollars and Demographics: How Census Data Shapes Federal Funding Distribution

POGO identified 338 federal assistance programs that relied on census data to direct more than $2.1 trillion in federal funds to states and communities in fiscal year 2020. Proper distribution of those funds depends on the reliability of census data.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“This is like red lights blaring, all kinds of conflicts of interest.”

Danielle Brian, Executive Director, in Politico

ONE LINERS

“The public is not able to reliably track how the government is spending our money. And this is an issue that merits our attention.”

Janice Luong, Policy Associate, on Federal News Network

“Certainly the system is not set up in a way that lends itself to transparency or accountability.”

Faith Williams, Director of the Effective and Accountable Government Program, in Roll Call