Federal Government Undercounted Illinois in 2020 Census
The U.S. Census Bureau admitted Thursday it undercounted Illinois in the 2020 census.
The federal government admitted Thursday it had undercounted Illinois in the 2020 census.
More from the Chicago Sun-Times:
Illinois suffered significant undercounting during the 2020 census, leading to the mistaken conclusion that the state lost residents over the previous ten years — when in reality it added more than a quarter of a million people and swelled to its largest population ever.
That’s the stunning revelation from a report the U.S. Census Bureau itself released on Thursday, admitting that its ten-year head counts were off in more than a dozen states.
Illinois’ purported population loss has become a talking point for everyone from former residents justifying their departure to political candidates using it to bash incumbents for policies they say are prompting a stampede out of the state.
While the release of Thursday’s report does nothing to reverse that loss of political representation in Washington, the finding that the state actually gained more than 250,000 residents between 2010 and 2020 does give Democrats ammunition to try to shout down many of those talking points.
Missing more than 250,000 Illinoisans is roughly the equivalent of not counting anyone in Aurora — Illinois’ second largest city — and the entire downstate city of Decatur.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker cheered the news that put Illinois’ population above 13 million for the first time ever.
“These latest numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau show that Illinois is now a state on the rise with a growing population,” Pritzker said in a statement.
It appears the Illinois population actually grew to over 13 million for the first time over the past decade.