Mapping the Hard to Count

Undercounting is likely one of the biggest challenges facing the U.S. Census Bureau as it prepares to run its decennial census in April. Certain parts of the country will prove problematic when it comes time to count.

1 minute read

November 14, 2009, 9:00 AM PST

By Nate Berg


Jill Wilson of the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program looked at a USA Today map to calculate the percent of each metropolitan area's population that lives in a "hard-to-count" neighborhood.

"Among the top 20 hard-to-count metros, only three (Albany, GA, Yakima, WA, and New York, NY) are not in a state bordering Mexico. The top sixteen are in TX, CA, NM, or AZ, though not all are border metros, with a cluster in California's "inland empire." Three metros (McAllen, Laredo, and Brownsville, TX) have more than half of their population in hard-to-count neighborhoods, and another seven have at least one third. Among metros with at least 1 million people, Los Angeles, New York, Las Vegas, Miami, and Houston rank highest, with at least one in five residents living in a hard-to-count neighborhood.

These places have their work cut out for them."

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 in The New Republic

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