My town is currently engaged in an extensive effort to have as many people as possible counted in the census. They’ve been repeating over and over again that the number of people counted impacts the amount of money provided by the federal and state government. This seems to be confirmed by numerous media reports as well. What I’m wondering is how this works in detail.
Are there government funds which are allocated to municipalities (& counties) on a direct per person basis? Or is it just that if you’re a “Big Town” you get more funds (& political clout) than a “Small Town”? Or perhaps what’s most relevant is passing certain population thresholds (e.g. 100K people)?
The details are different for every kind of government program. Seats in Congress (both state and federal) are apportioned by population as are congressional districts. If a community has a lot of growth and a higher population, they may get priority for new road construction, new schools and other public projects like that. Some social service funds are apportioned by population.
Generally, it isn’t as simple as “pass 100k people and get a road” or “get $1.80 per person in funding”
Often, it’s a factor used in decision making about public spending and grants. If Town A and B both need a hospital, but Town B has more people, it will get the hospital funding first. If the military wants to build a new base, it might need a town with a certain minimum size, but prefer an area where the base can help improve the local economy.
At the state and local level, population data is also used to determine classification. For example, in Pennsylvania, the kind of government a county or municipality can have depends on its class, which is, in turn, dependent on its population count. My own county is currently a fourth-class county, but it wants to be a third-class county. The commissioners are therefore doing everything they can to make sure that everyone does their census form. Other counties will go down to the next lower class if they lose population, so they want everyone to participate to make sure that doesn’t happen.