The 2020 Census: The Role of the Decennial Census in the Geographic Distribution of Federal Funds

In FY2016, Washington received $16,676,186,274 through 55 federal spending programs guided by data derived from the 2010 Census.

The Counting for Dollars 2020 Project aims to understand: 

1. the extent to which the federal government will rely on data from the 2020 Census to guide the distribution of federal funding to states, localities, and households across the nation and 
2. the impact of the accuracy of the 2020 Census on the fair, equitable distribution of these funds.

The project has analyzed spending by state for 55 federal programs ($883,094,826,042 in FY2016). Three types of programs are analyzed:

• Domestic financial assistance programs provide financial assistance — including direct payments to individuals, grants, loans, and loan guarantees — to non-federal entities within the U.S. — such as individuals and families, state and local governments, companies, and nonprofits — in order to fulfill a public purpose.
• Tax credit programs allow a special exclusion, exemption, or deduction from gross income or provide a special credit, a preferential rate of tax, or a deferral of tax liability.
• Procurement programs award a portion of Federal prime contract dollars to small businesses located in areas selected on the basis of census-derived data.

The four uses of census-derived datasets to geographically allocate funding are:

• Define eligibility criteria — that is, identify which organizations or individuals can receive funds.
• Compute formulas that geographically allocate funds to eligible recipients.
• Rank project applications based on priorities (e.g., smaller towns, poorer neighborhoods).
• Set interest rates for federal loan programs.

The two categories of census-derived datasets are:

• Geographic classifications — the characterization (e.g., rural), delineation (e.g., Metropolitan Areas), or designation (e.g., Opportunity Zones) of specific geographic areas.
• Variable datasets
  • Annual updates of population and housing variables collected in the Decennial Census.
  • Household surveys collecting new data elements (e.g., income, occupation) by using the Decennial Census to design representative samples and interpret results.