Census says in the most rural areas it missed over 4% of housing units, mainly trailers and single-occupancy rentals

Screenshot of Census Bureau map shows the most rural tracts in yellow and light green.
For a larger version of the map, click on it; for the original map on the Census Bureau site, click here.

The 2020 census missed about 1 in 25 housing units in the most rural areas of the country, and 1 in 20 on Native American reservations, says the Census Bureau's latest report on the decennial count.

"Experts have said census miscounts will impact the distribution of the more than $1.5 trillion federal funds annually based at least in part on census results," reports Michael Macagnione of Roll Call. "Tuesday’s report analyzed census results based on the type of housing units counted and showed the census as largely accurate for owner-occupied housing as well as small multi-unit buildings, but the census missed those living in trailers and rural areas." The mobile-home undercount was 4.3%; for the most rural census tracts (not including "Remote Alaska") it was 4.2%.

While most of the country is counted through self response, the most rural areas without regular mail access or reliable internet access were counted through a different process. There, census workers went to individual households to drop off census forms or count residents themselves, but missed about 4 percent of the housing units."

Those results come from the bureau's post-enumeration survey, questionnaires sent to a random sample of households. The bureau explains that it accounts for housing units in a "slightly different" way than it counts population: "The key difference is that the Census Bureau works throughout the decade to build a list of all the housing units in the nation. This address list, called the Master Address File, is then used to invite people living at those addresses to respond to the census and to follow up with them if they do not. The list is also used to ensure the population is tabulated to the right location. This means that housing-unit coverage relies more on an accurate address list than on obtaining responses required for counting people."

The report said the census overcounted housing units in Alabama, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Utah. An earlier report estimated that there were undercounts of population in Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas, and overcounts in New York, Ohio, Rhode Island and Utah. This is the first report on rural undercounts.