2020 not only brings the start of another decade, but the next census for our country. The importance of the census is critical as it gives the United States a snapshot of how many live in the country. 675 Billion dollars of federal funding is distributed annually to state, local and tribal governments based on the census data. Jan Helms, Executive Administrative Assistance for the City of Monmouth, shares payments to states and municipalities are on a per capita basis, meaning an accurate count for our area is critical:
“If we are under-counted by just say 100 people, they estimate for each person we miss out on $1,800. That is $180,000 we are missing annually if we do not get an accurate count. They do not want to know status, they don’t care about that. They just want to know how many people are actually living in our city,” Helms states.
Data received based on the census can help allow cities to receive grants to be used toward road improvements, water main and sewer improvements, placement of hospitals, and the number of Illinois Representatives allowed in the House of Representatives.
