A new report from the U.S. Census Bureau shows more federal money than ever is being distributed based on census data.
The report, �Uses of Decennial Census Programs Data in Federal Funds Distribution: Fiscal Year 2021,� found that �more than $2.8 trillion in federal funding was distributed in fiscal year 2021 to states, communities, tribal governments and other recipients using Census Bureau data in whole or in part.�
That figure is a massive jump from the $1.51 trillion found in George Washington University Professor Andrew Reamer�s �Counting for Dollars 2020� to have been similarly distributed in FY 2017. (Dr. Reamer also later identified each individual state�s share of that funding)
�Some of the top programs funded health care, nutrition, highways, housing, school lunches, childcare and COVID-19 assistance. All together, these programs benefited a wide variety of people, including children, adults 65 and older, unemployed workers, people with disabilities, families who needed childcare assistance, people who used public transportation and people who needed housing assistance.�
Beyond exploring how census data help allocate direct financial assistance from over 353 programs, an appendix to the report also touches on how some other �geography-specific financial and economic benefits� are guided by census data, including: �State matching payments to the federal government�; �Tax expenditures�; �Procurement�; �Financial and business regulation�; �Sale of foreclosed residential properties�; and �Federal program evaluation.�
Census Bureau Director Rob Santos commented that, �Your participation improves the quality of the data and the decisions that send money back to your community. The government spends trillions of dollars each year, and Census Bureau data are key to ensuring that those dollars are being used effectively and equitably.�
