March 28, 2001

For Immediate Release

Contacts: John Chambers
301-713-6672

WHO WAS LEFT OUT OF CENSUS 2000? AND WHERE DO THEY LIVE?

Undercount Numbers Reveal Fuzzy Portrait Of America

Washington, D.C. (March 28, 2001) — Today, the Presidential Members of the U.S. Census Monitoring Board released the number of people missed in the 2000 census in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and five cities; Atlanta, Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia and Houston. The numbers are net and therefore include both the overcount and undercount rates.

The numbers reveal the state distribution of the 3.3 million person national net undercount. Alarmingly, the undercount number has increased in 15 states compared to 1990. The numbers also demonstrate that states with higher percentages of minorities have a higher net undercount and the majority of the undercount is concentrated in cities.

California remained the largest undercounted state with 529,782 people not included. Other states with high undercounts included Texas (356,296), New York (290,938), Florida (208,867), Illinois (119,115), Pennsylvania (112,784), Georgia (101,947), North Carolina (95,292) and New Jersey (91,867).

"We know millions of people were missed, we know where they live, and for the most part, we know they are disproportionately minority," said Gilbert F. Casellas, Presidential Co-Chair of the Monitoring Board. "With billions of federal dollars at stake, why can’t we fix the problem if we know we have the means to do so?"

In late February the Census Bureau announced that the net undercount fell from 1.6 percent, or 4.0 million people in 1990 to 1.2 percent, or 3.3 million people, in 2000. Today’s breakdown of the undercount by state and 5 cities was calculated by Census Monitoring Board consultant Dr. Eugene P. Ericksen, a decennial census expert and professor of statistics at Temple University.

"While the Census Bureau did reduce the net undercount, it is important that the adjusted data be released to the American public and the scientific community for continued research and evaluation," said Dr. Ericksen, who Co-Chaired the Special Advisory Committee to the Secretary of Commerce during the 1990 census.

Undercount data was created for the five largest cities in states for which redistricting data has been released. Undercount rates were much higher in these cities than in their states. New York City missed 188,527 people; followed by Chicago (62, 121), Houston (43,947), Philadelphia (21,547) and Atlanta (9,369).

The bipartisan Census Monitoring Board was established in 1997 to monitor Census 2000 operations. Its findings are reported to Congress every six months. For further information, visit www.cmbp.gov.

While we know between 6.4 million people were missed and 3.1 million were counted twice for a net undercount of 3.3 million, the following chart shows only the net undercount by state.

A Comparison of 1990 and 2000 Net Undercounts by State

State 1	1990 Net Undercount	Number of People Missed in 1990	2000 Net Undercount	Number of People Missed in 2000	1990 - 2000 Difference
California	2.7%	834,516	1.5%	529,782	304,734
Texas	2.8%	482,738	1.7%	356,296	126,442
New York	1.5%	271,500	1.5%	290,938	-19,438
Florida	1.9%	258,929	1.3%	208,867	50,062
Illinois	1.0%	113,831	1.0%	119,115	-5,284
Pennsylvania	0.3%	34,987	0.9%	112,784	-77,797
Georgia	2.1%	140,613	1.2%	101,947	38,666
North Carolina	1.8%	124,538	1.2%	95,292	29,246
New Jersey	0.6%	44,223	1.1%	91,867	-47,644
Virginia	2.0%	126,262	1.3%	89,601	36,661
Maryland	2.1%	100,856	1.4%	75,204	25,652
Tennessee	1.7%	86,501	1.3%	74,351	12,150
Ohio	0.7%	74,810	0.6%	68,530	6,280
Washington	1.8%	91,295	1.1%	67,968	23,327
Arizona	2.3%	89,069	1.2%	60,739	28,330
Louisiana	2.2%	93,543	1.2%	54,737	38,806
Colorado	2.1%	68,963	1.2%	53,564	15,399
Michigan	0.7%	66,034	0.5%	51,950	14,084
Alabama	1.7%	72,532	1.1%	49,462	23,070
Massachusetts	0.5%	28,736	0.8%	48,623	-19,887
Oregon	1.9%	53,826	1.3%	46,118	7,708
Kentucky	1.6%	60,366	1.1%	45,781	14,585
Indiana	0.5%	28,080	0.7%	45,331	-17,251
South Carolina	2.0%	72,215	1.1%	43,393	28,822
Oklahoma	1.8%	57,145	1.2%	41,557	15,588
Nevada	2.3%	28,842	2.0%	40,157	-11,315
Wisconsin	0.6%	30,228	0.7%	37,810	-7,582
Arkansas	1.7%	41,566	1.3%	35,212	6,354
Mississippi	2.1%	55,683	1.1%	31,348	24,335
Missouri	0.6%	31,979	0.6%	30,944	1,035
New Mexico	3.1%	48,054	1.6%	29,766	18,288
Connecticut	0.6%	21,193	0.9%	29,195	-8,002
Utah	1.7%	30,271	1.1%	25,523	4,748
Idaho	2.2%	22,464	1.7%	22,244	220
West Virginia	1.4%	25,527	1.1%	20,853	4,674
Hawaii	1.9%	20,933	1.6%	19,325	1,608
Maine	0.7%	9,196	1.3%	16,923	-7,727
Iowa	0.4%	11,623	0.6%	16,480	-4,857
Minnesota	0.4%	19,581	0.3%	16,228	3,353
Kansas	0.7%	17,188	0.6%	15,412	1,776
Montana	2.4%	19,240	1.6%	14,390	4,850
DST. of Columbia	3.4%	21,409	2.4%	14,067	7,342
New Hampshire	0.8%	9,358	1.1%	13,240	-3,882
Nebraska	0.6%	10,313	0.7%	12,758	-2,445
Rhode Island	0.1%	1,347	1.1%	11,874	-10,527
Alaska	1.7%	9,351	1.7%	11,102	-1,751
Delaware	1.7%	12,204	1.3%	10,241	1,963
Vermont	1.1%	6,333	1.5%	9,146	-2,813
Wyoming	2.2%	9,981	1.7%	8,386	1,595
South Dakota	1.0%	6,874	0.5%	3,793	3,081
North Dakota	0.7%	4,242	0.4%	2,385	1,857
totals	1.6% (avg.)	4,001,088	1.2% (avg.)	3,322,599	678,489
1 As of March 26th, 2001 the following 2000 state data has not been released: Arizona, California, District of Columbia, Florida, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Rhode Island, West Virginia and Wyoming.

A Comparison of 1990 and 2000 Net Undercounts for 5 Cities

City	1990 Net Undercount	Number of People Missed in 1990	2000 Net Undercount	Number of People Missed in 2000	1990 - 2000 Difference
Atlanta	3.41%	13,906	2.2%	9,369	4,537
Chicago	2.40%	68,315	2.1%	62,121	6,194
New York City	3.23%	244,582	2.3%	188,527	56,055
Philadelphia	1.45%	23,365	0.8%	21,547	1,818
Houston	3.93%	66,748	2.2%	43,947	22,801