AUSTIN, Texas — The City of Austin confirmed that it is appealing the results of the 2020 census count, following a report from KVUE's news partners at the Austin American-Statesman.
According to the report, city leaders believe Austin actually has more residents than the 961,855 that were counted during the decennial process. They say about 7,000 housing units were missed in the 2020 count, most of which were in newly developed neighborhoods.
“The Census Bureau’s mission is to count everyone, count everyone only once, and count them in the right place,” City Demographer Lila Valencia told the Statesman. “Any changes to our population count will not affect any redistricting that's already taken place and it won't change our 2020 population count number. But what it will do is update the figures that are used in the Census Bureau population estimate.”
Valencia also said that some housing units were placed on the wrong block within the city.
She also noted that updated figures could have an impact on the federal government's allocation of $1.5 trillion in annual spending for programs and services that could benefit the city, from parks to schools to housing and more.
“We wanted to make sure that we got the most accurate count that we could so that we could get our fair share of dollars back to the city of Austin residents,” Valencia told the Statesman.
To read the Statesman's full report, click here.
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