Janesville population estimate 'suspect'
JANESVILLE — The U.S. Census Bureau has released its estimates for the populations of U.S. cities, but a Janesville planning specialist said that any numbers about Janesville are suspect in this economy.
The bureau released figures that show Janesville's population increased almost 4 percent the last eight years.
Duane Cherek of the community development department said the city generally relies on annual figures released by the state. The population estimate as of Jan. 1, 2008, was 63,540, about 1,000 more than what the census bureau estimates.
The state uses such information as vehicle and property tax records, growth of new housing and loss of units, he said.
But Cherek said staff members have found even those numbers to be conservative, especially over the last 15 years when Janesville has been experiencing solid growth.
Janesville's population is anyone's guess right now, Cherek said. The national downturn in the economy hit Janesville especially hard with the closure of General Motors and its suppliers.
Residential construction is flat, Cherek said. Residents in fact might be leaving the city, he added.
"What we don't know is what the impact of those circumstances has been for the population or how that translates to the current city population," Cherek said.
"We don't have a mechanism in place … that directly measures out migration."
Cherek said the upcoming 2010 census will be very timely and telling in terms of knowing what the city's population actually is.
Residents should receive surveys in February or March.
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Jul 3, 2009 at 12:14 p.m.
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I seem to recall city officials disputing Census figures in the past. They're easy to dispute, as they're only estimates.
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Interesting that there's no mechanism to measure out-migration. You'd think that would be a key number in determining population. If it's impossible to measure out-mitgration, then perhaps any estimate is subject to potentially gross errors.
Jul 3, 2009 at 10:28 a.m.
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Perhaps about 1/2 of 1% higher. But then they are counting residents, not citizens.
Jul 3, 2009 at 12:29 a.m.
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Are they taking the numbers with Illegals counted... if so the census will be a lot higher
Jul 2, 2009 at 10:52 p.m.
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The census is taken by temporary federal employees. But this is not the door-to-door census, it's an estimate taken from public records. By federal employees.
Jul 2, 2009 at 7:58 p.m.
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Well you can bet if any census taken was by ACORN or any affiliate of ACORN you can be sure the results of the census is dubious.
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