Census analysis finds undercount but not as bad as predicted

By MIKE SCHNEIDER
Associated Press

The 2020 U.S. census missed an estimated 1.6 million people, but given hurdles posed by the pandemic and natural disasters, the undercount was smaller than expected. That’s according to an analysis by a think tank. The analysis released Tuesday by the Urban Institute estimates there was a 0.5% undercount. If that modeled estimate holds true, it would be greater than the 0.01% undercount in the 2010 census but in the same range as the 0.49% undercount in the 2000 census. The official undercount of the census won’t be known until next year when the Census Bureau releases a report card on the count.