TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The 2020 US Census could drastically undercount new Florida residents according to one fiscal watchdog group, costing the state hundreds of millions of dollars over the next decade.
Census data collected every ten years is used for numerous reasons, including the allocation of billions of federal tax dollars and the redistribution of seats in Congress.
Florida TaxWatch President Dominic Calabro says the Census Bureau and local governments need to do more public outreach to make it as easy as possible for everyone living in Florida to be counted.
“Because we undercount, even by just a small percentage, we can undercount by half a million people very easily," said Calabro. "We have 21 plus million people here and growing. We are growing nearly one thousand a day.”
Calabro says Florida’s population was undercounted in both the 2010 and 2000 censuses, costing the state a fair distribution of federal funds in both cases. Data collection for the next census will begin in April.
