Recognizing that “children aged 0–4” have been historically undercounted in the decennial census, the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) recently released a report tracking the distribution of census-guided federal funding for children’s programs to individual states. POGO noted that, “A census miscount can influence where billions of dollars go.”
“Of the 371 federal assistance programs operating in fiscal year 2023 that POGO identified, 70 were census-guided programs that supported children. These programs accounted for $792.77 billion in funds disbursed to all 50 states and Washington, DC, representing 35% of the total census-guided funding in FY 2023.”
- Census Matters: How the Census Shapes Funding for Children. June 17, 2026. By Janice Luong and Sean Moulton. https://www.pogo.org/reports/census-matters-how-the-census-shapes-funding-for-children
