2020 Census undercounted some Latino, Black and Native American residents

The 2020 census significantly undercounted Black, Latino and Native American populations, while inflating the populations of other demographics, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday.

The report, which evaluated how well the decennial head count tallied U.S. residents, determined some 3 percent of Black residents were uncounted, along with 5 percent of Latinos and nearly 6 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Meanwhile, White and Asian populations were overcounted, indicating the trends seen in San Diego County’s 2020 census data may be slightly skewed.

San Diego County reported gains in both the Latino and Asian populations, according to data released last year.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported there are 128,300 more Latinos in the county than in 2010, when the last national headcount was completed, an increase of 12.9 percent, making Latinos nearly 34 percent of all county residents. The Asian population increased by more than 20 percent to some 400,500 people, representing about 12 percent of all county residents.

The number of Blacks and Whites both declined in San Diego County, even as the area’s total population jumped by more than 6 percent to just under 3.3 million people.

According to Thursday’s census report, the nation‘s overall population count — a total of 323.2 million — was more accurate than demographic totals, missing roughly 782,000 people from the final tally.

Census director Robert L. Santos said the accuracy in the countrywide total is worth celebrating, given the unprecedented challenges of conducting the census during the coronavirus pandemic, along with wildfires in California and Hurricane Laura, which struck Louisiana in August.

“Today’s results show statistical evidence that the quality of the 2020 Census total population count is consistent with that of recent censuses,” Santos said. “This is notable, given the unprecedented challenges of 2020.”

The census was also plagued with lawsuits filed by the Trump administration, which sought to add a citizenship question to the survey and to exclude those in the country illegally from the totals used to divvy up congressional seats.

Both attempts — which many feared would discourage minorities from participating — failed, but the administration cut short census field operations, which had been extended because of the pandemic.

Santos said the undercounted rates seen in minority populations reflect a now long-standing trend of misrepresentation among communities of color.

“The results also include some limitations — the 2020 Census undercounted many of the same population groups we have historically undercounted, and it overcounted others,” Santos said.

In 2010, 2 percent of Blacks were undercounted, compared with a rate of 3 percent a decade later, and the Latino undercount rate in 2020 was three times the rate identified in the previous census.

The report found the Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander population was neither overcounted nor undercounted.

The estimates released Thursday represent a statistical adjustment to the 2020 data and are based on a review of federal records and an extensive sample-size survey of smaller geographic areas.