Differential Undercounts in the U.S. Census: Who is Missed?

Abstract

As the topic of social injustice becomes more prominent in academic and community discussions, the general public and researchers may be interested in learning about the relationship between data accuracy in census surveys and social inequality in the United States. This book is a compilation of statistics and data discussing why certain groups of people have historically been uncounted and omitted in the decennial census. The decennial census is a count conducted every ten years of every person living in the United States in order to allocate federal funding to states for social services, determine state and congressional legislative districts, and the number of US House of Representatives for each state. William O’Hare gathers available information regarding undercounts and omission rates in the decennial census and summarizes the data to make it understandable for a general audience, as often this data is buried within census reports and presentations. In addition, O’Hare provides references to the data and methodology.