As data from the census rolls out, fantastic visualizations are popping up all over. But all that eye candy is necessarily missing a layer of detail: Even though this year census officials tried harder than ever to reach hard-to-count immigrant and students communities, many of those people still aren't accounted for in the official statistics.
In Texas, for instance, Equal Voice Newspaper reports:
The 10-year population count may have missed as many as 300,000 residents of the Lone Star state, almost all of whom live in the unincorporated subdivisions along the Texas-Mexico border known as colonias. Mired in deep poverty, most residents lack basic amenities like running water and paved streets. Though predominantly Latino, 65 percent of colonia residents -- and 85 percent of those under 18 -- were born in the United States.
In New York, Mayor Bloomberg has questioned the census' official figures, which have Queens growing by just over 1,300 people, for instance. The city is planning a legal challenge to the count, but not all communities have the luxury of fighting in the courts for higher numbers, which lead in turn to higher funding from the federal government.
