A complete count in Leflore County for the 2020 Census could increase federal funding for Mississippi by almost $650 million, according to former state Sen. Giles Ward, the chairman of the Mississippi Census Complete Count Committee.
The federal government distributes federal funding at the state and local level based on demographic information collected from the census. For every Mississippian counted, about $50,000 in federal funding is allocated to the state over the ensuing 10 years.
The county’s self-response rate for the census as of Wednesday was 53.9%, meaning an estimated 46.1% of households had not yet completed the federal government’s questionnaire, according to U.S. Census Bureau data that maps hard-to-count areas.
To encourage Mississippians to continue to respond, the Mississippi Census Complete Count Committee released data Wednesday that detailed how much federal money each county could be costing the state due to undercounts.
Leflore County’s census count to date should translate into almost $760 million in federal funding for the state through 2030 — yet an estimated $650 million could be left on the table because of the undercount.
In Carroll County, 43.1% of households have been counted in the census, which translates into $214 million in federal funding for the state over the next 10 years. The 56.9% of households not counted in the census represent close to $283 million in federal funding that could be in jeopardy.
The state’s self-response rate to the census as of Wednesday was 57%, representing nearly $85 billion in estimated federal funding for the state.
However, the 43% of households that have not been counted means Mississippi could be missing out on about $64 billion in additional federal funds.
Mississippi’s 2010 self-response rate to the census was 61.3%, meaning the state missed out on $13.2 billion as a result of residents who weren’t counted, Ward said in a statement released Wednesday. “Mississippi could have used $13.2 billion over the past 10 years,” he said.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the self-response phase for the census, which would have originally ended this month, is scheduled to continue through October.
Beginning Thursday, census takers will approach and interview people in households throughout the country that have not responded to the 2020 census.
Self-response rate data for the 2020 Census can be accessed at censushardtocountmaps2020.us/
•Contact Gerard Edic at 581-7239 or gedic@gwcommonwealth.com.
