U.S. Census

The Census Bureau began a gigantic release of 2010 Census data today, publishing detailed race, Hispanic and population totals down to the block level for Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia.

How well did the Census Bureau’s population estimates for the first decade of the 21st century match the actual counts from the 2010 Census?

How well did the Census Bureau's population estimates for the first decade of the 21st century match the actual counts from the 2010 Census? The short answer: Pretty well for the nation, and for all but a handful of states.

A decade ago, the apportionment counts from the 2000 Census showed that North Carolina was the luckiest state in the country.

When the 2010 Census apportionment counts were announced last month, they showed that North Carolina, which scored the last seat in 2000, fell short of winning the 435th or last seat. This time, Minnesota was the winner.

When the Census Bureau announced the first population totals from the 2010 Census for the nation (308.7 million) and for states on Dec. 21, the numbers did not include ethnic or race breakdowns.

The first numbers from the 2010 Census, to be released tomorrow, are the state population totals that have been the basis of the proportional division of seats in the House of Representatives since the nation’s early days

The first numbers from the 2010 Census are the state population totals, the basis of the proportional division of seats in the House of Representatives since the nation's early days. The number of House seats has been fixed at 435 since 1913, but there have been numerous tweaks in the methodology used to divide them up -- and debate continues today.

The Census Bureau did a better job in 2010 than it had in 2000 reaching out to "hard-to-count" groups, such as minorities and renters, who are more likely to be missed by census-takers than other Americans.

A newly released Government Accountability Office review of Census Bureau follow-up efforts to reduce errors in the 2010 Census raises an issue that is familiar to survey researchers: The problem of reaching the growing share of Americans who only have cell phones and not landlines.