New York: Illinois is adding tens of thousands of people to its population total, and California is getting misplaced sailors on an aircraft carrier put in the right location, after successfully asking for a review of their 2020 census figures.
New York City also appears to have gotten an additional 1,090 people added to its population total recently after asking the Census Bureau to double-check the city’s numbers from the head count of every U.S. resident, city officials said.
The once-a-decade census produces population figures that help determine political power and the annual distribution of $2.8 trillion in federal funding. The Census Bureau has two programs giving governments opportunities to have their population totals reviewed and adjusted if need be. Nearly 200 requests for reviews were filed by tribal, local and state governments for the 2020 census.
The Census Bureau appears to have added 1,090 people to New York City, the most populous city in the U.S. The exact figure is unknown since the bureau doesn’t tell governments precisely how much the total was changed, only that all or part of their review was approved. City officials estimated the adjustment by comparing changes in numbers that are released annually with population estimates from the Census Bureau, said officials in the city’s Department of City Planning.
New York City officials believed hundreds of inmates and students at Hunter College, Pace University and Wagner College were missing in its 2020 count. Although the adjustment is comparatively small in a city of 8.3 million residents, city officials believe it could amount to an additional $6.5 million each year in federal funding that the city receives.
“Through grit, rigorous study, and careful tabulations, we were able to correct the census count and deliver more federal dollars for New York City,” Dan Garodnick, director of the Department of City Planning, said in an email.
