URBANA — The results of a special census in Urbana have pushed the city’s official population back above 40,000. Officials say the updated numbers should trigger hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in additional revenue from the state.
The 2020 Census showed Urbana’s population was 38,336, a 7% drop from the previous count.
But the partial special census, conducted in areas near the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus, raised the total population to 40,795 — an increase of nearly 2,500 people.
Mayor Diane Marlin attributes that difference to the COVID-19 pandemic, which kept many University of Illinois students out of town.
“The students basically didn’t come back for in-person classes,” she said. “They should have been counted in Urbana, and … many of them were not.”
The new official population is still 1.1% lower than the 2010 census count showing 41,250 residents. Marlin said she thinks Urbana is still being undercounted — and that the next count will prove it.
“This didn’t, by any chance … recapture everybody who was undercounted in the 2020 census, but we just couldn’t afford to recount the whole city,” she said.
“By the time the 2030 census rolls around, and hopefully we get a much more accurate count, we’ll see a good increase in our population.”
Population counts dictate how much funding cities receive from the state as well as the federal government. Marlin said the special census will trigger about $600,000 a year in additional state revenue for Urbana.