WASHINGTON — The 2010 census missed more than 1.5 million minorities after struggling to count black Americans, Hispanics, renters and young men, but was mostly accurate.
The Census Bureau reports Tuesday it over-counted the total U.S. population by about 36,000 people, or 0.01 percent. That is compared to a census over-count of 0.5 percent in 2000.
Still, Census Bureau director Robert Groves notes that traditional hard-to-count groups, including blacks and Hispanics, remained difficult to tally.
The census missed about 2.1 percent of black Americans and 1.5 percent of Hispanics. That’s statistically comparable to levels in 2000.
Texas and other Southern states were likelier to have had people missed, while the Midwest and Northeast posted small over-counts.
The once-a-decade count is used to allocate House seats and more than $400 billion in federal money for roads, schools and social programs.