As the U.S. census nears the end of its operations for the once-a-decade count, the bureau is reporting that 96.9% of households in Tennessee are counted.
The Census Bureau was going to end its nationwide count, including door-to-door follow-ups with households that did not respond online or by phone or mail, on Sept. 30. A federal judge has ordered the count to continue until the original end date at the end of October.
After the shorter schedule was announced this summer, civil rights groups challenged the order in multiple courts and sought answers to who authorized the schedule change. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in California ordered late Thursday the headcount to continue as originally planned through the end of October.
On Tuesday, the bureau announced 95% of households nationwide had been counted - in Georgia that number was 92.3%, and in Alabama 89.8% have been counted. In Hamilton County, 67% of households responded to the census before door-to-door operations began, according to data from the bureau.
The count every decade determines the allocation of $1.5 trillion of federal spending across the country, including to schools, hospitals and emergency responders. Data from the census also determines the funding for programs like Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and highway planning.
According to a study from the George Washington Institute on Public Policy, undercounting in the census costs states on average $1,091 per person. The same study found that a 1% undercount in Tennessee would cause the state to lose $69.2 million in federal funding for programs like Medicaid, Children's Health Insurance Program, the Child Care and Development Fund, foster care and adoption assistance.
The count also plays a role in political redistricting. Earlier this month, State Rep. Yusuf Hakeem and other state leaders warned that low-income and Black residents may be undercounted, therefore losing opportunities for needed federal aid.
At the time, Hakeem said there were 14 census blocks in Chattanooga with less than 50% of the residents counted.
"So that means an awful lot of dollars can stay off the table because we have not been able to get to those persons or not enough trusted leaders going into the communities to deal with those concerns," Hakeem said.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic delayed the rollout of some census programs, including the in-person follow-up visits by census workers to households that had not responded. In March, leaders at the organization encouraged people to respond online or through other at-home methods.
Contact Wyatt Massey at wmassey@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249. Follow him on Twitter @news4mass.