County gets better idea of population | Local News | Summerville Journal Scene

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County gets better idea of population

Published Thursday, May 08, 2008 2:25 PM

By David Berman
Summerville Journal Scene ®

An in-house effort by Dorchester County to determine the total number of residential addresses countywide resulted in population estimates far exceeding those made in recent years by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Spearheaded by its Geographic Information System (GIS) division, the county performed a Local Update of Census Addresses, or LUCA, by comparing its own database of addresses against federal files. By doing so, 6,321 addresses that were not on Census data lists were identified.

At a rate of two and a half people per household, that amounts to more than 15,000 county residents who were unaccounted for — at least Census-wise, says David Garber, the county’s GIS coordinator.

“Every person we found is $2,000 in county coffers that would have leaked out without a good count,” Garber says, referring to the battery of federal programs that base allocations on Census figures.

Garber estimates that by 2010, the year of the next scheduled Census, there will be about

140,000 people living in the county. That’s a far cry from a 2007 Census Bureau estimate pegging the population at 123,505.

The last Census, in 2000, showed county population of about 96,000 people. That number was later adjusted to 108,000 but Garber says it was likely closer to 112,000.

Historically, Dorchester County’s population has been underreported, Garber says. In the past, Census maps didn’t include The Bridges of Summerville at all and accounted for only 17 residents in Westcott, he says.

A team made up of employees from several county departments “cleaned up” address data by incorporating outside information like the location of utility company meters.

In some instances, a residential complex is owned by one person but it houses multiple people, Garber says.

The new totals were submitted to the federal government, which has until August to give its assessment of the numbers, Garber says. Then the Census bureau can adjust accordingly the number of enumerators it sends to Dorchester County for the 2010 Census.

The more enumerators there are on the ground, the more accurate the numbers will be, Garber says.

Contact David Berman at 873-9424 ext. 214 or dberman@journalscene.com

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