Massachusetts Fear of Uncounted Population in 2010 Census

The Boston Globe reports:

For years, Massachusetts population specialists and politicians have contended that the census was failing to count many state residents, especially those living in group quarters, such as the state's many college dormitories. As the 2010 Census approaches, concern is growing so pitched that the Legislature tapped researchers at the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute to conduct their own population estimates, starting with an up-to-date headcount of students, prisoners, the homeless, and others living in group settings.

To produce a count, the researchers contacted every college and university in Massachusetts to count dormitory dwellers, and they itemized the number of people living in all prisons, military installations, convents, nursing homes, and shelters across Massachusetts. The result: A new tally of 234,556 people in group housing - 8 percent more than the census is expected to estimate for 2007. Two-thirds of those newly identified are in the city of Boston.

The city and state hope to use the preliminary data to persuade the Census Bureau to boost its full population estimates, due out this week.

The effort isn't cheap: After spending $700,000 over the past two years, the Legislature is expected to devote $800,000 in the upcoming budget to the census effort.

Secretary of State William F. Galvin said the expense is more than worth it, considering the potential millions of dollars that could be lost with inaccurate counts. So much federal money is allocated based on population that Massachusetts officials estimate each person reported in the 2000 Census was worth $1,621.52. Stagnant population counts cost Massachusetts a congressional seat after the 1980 Census and again after the 1990 count.

In 2000, Galvin added, "We maintained our congressional delegation for the first time in 30 years. I don't know if I can pull a rabbit out of the hat again."

The city has also launched its own census effort through the Boston Redevelopment Authority, which handles demographic information for the city.

"It's too important to us to lose numbers and also federal funds, and we could lose a congressman," Menino said. "We're going to work on that with them from the beginning, not the end. We want to be proactive. We've had to react."

You'll want to read the whole article.High cost Massachusetts isn't growing like the rest of the country.