The New York Times, February 6, 2020: Changes to the Census could make small towns disappear
According to the 2010 census, 590 people lived in Toksook Bay. State demographers expect the total to rise by about 100 people when census results are published next year.
“There has to be an increase in the count. We know we are growing,” said Robert Pitka, a tribal administrator who is leading census outreach in Toksook Bay. “Every person matters for federal funding.”
But Toksook Bay, along with thousands of other small places around the country, may end up with an inaccurate population count.
The law requires individual census records to be kept confidential for 72 years. Fearing that data brokers using new statistical techniques could de-anonymize the published population totals, the bureau is testing an algorithm that will scramble the final numbers. Imaginary people will be added to some locations and real people will be removed from others.
