1% Undercount on Census Could Cost Texas $300 Million a Year

The 2020 census has been in the news a lot recently because of a certain question that some people want on there. That's not what this article is about.

This is about the state of Texas not putting any money into promoting the census to get people to fill it out. Now, you might be thinking that's a good idea. Why should we spend money on something like the census? There are no repercussions for not filling out the census.

Well, that's not entirely true. The census gives the federal government a count on how many people live in certain cities. This head count of the population is used to allocate money from the federal government. Don't fill out the census, and your head doesn't count, which means less money.

The state of California is investing $154 million on the 2020 census. This could mean more money for California and less for Texas after the census is taken.

What makes this even worse is that Texas has some of the fastest growing cities in the United States. You might be wondering if that $154 million is money well spent for California. Well, it's being estimated that just a 1% undercount could cost the state of Texas almost $300 million a year in federal funding.