An undercount of 36,000 Erie County residents in the 2020 Census might have cost the county $4 million in federal stimulus funding.
With 3.8% discrepancy in total population, Erie County falls as the 10th highest undercount among the large counties nationwide.
According to Buffalo News:
“The difference is substantial in a whole bunch of places,” said Joseph Salvo, the former chief demographer for the New York City Planning Department. “I would look at the population estimates as being problematic.” No clear threshold exists for defining “problematic,” however. An analyst in the Census Bureau’s population division said that only a gap approaching 5% would “raise red flags.” In either case, It appears to have cost Erie County more than $4 million in federal stimulus funding under the 2020 CARES Act and likely suppressed aid under the 2021 American Rescue Plan, as well. The Covid-19 relief packages divided a combined total of more than $200 billion to county governments, according to their 2019 share of the national or state population.”
