Census Likely Miscounted the Population of 14 States, a Review Finds - The New York Times

A survey indicated that census takers in 2020 undercounted the number of people in six states, mostly in the South, and overcounted in eight others.

WASHINGTON — The 2020 census undercounted the population of six states and overcounted residents in eight others, the Census Bureau said on Thursday, a finding that highlighted the difficulties of conducting the most star-crossed population count in living memory.

Thompson, the director of the Census Bureau from 2013 to 2017, said in an interview that he was not surprised by the variations, given the problems that dogged the 2020 census.

The Census Bureau said in March that the same survey had found undercounts of Black and Hispanic people, and overcounts of white people and people of Asian descent in the national population totals.

The post-mortem will not change the official state-by-state results of the census, which said that 331,459,281 people were living in the United States in 2020.

Geographically, five of the six states with population undercounts were in the Deep South, while six of the eight states that were most overcounted are in the North, and particularly the Northeast.