Press Releases

For Immediate Release
September 5, 2018

Contacts:
Rachaele Raynoff, Joe Marvilli – press@planning.nyc.gov (212) 720-3471                                              

NEW YORK CITY ADDS MORE THAN 122,000 RESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES TO CENSUS BUREAU’S ADDRESS LIST FOR 2020 CENSUS

Updated tally means 300,000 additional New Yorkers could now be counted; as many as live in Cincinnati, Ohio

 

Sept. 5, 2018 – Department of City Planning (DCP) Director Marisa Lago today announced the Department has submitted addresses for more than 122,000 housing units that the Census Bureau did not have on its address list for the 2020 Census. The addresses added under the Bureau’s Local Update of Census Addresses (LUCA) program are part of New York City's effort to ensure a complete and accurate count of its population.
  
“For our democracy and our city to continue to thrive, it’s essential that every New Yorker is counted in the 2020 Census. It’s our constitutionally enshrined and legally protected right. New York City, and municipalities across America, are working tirelessly to ensure that it’s an honest count, because an undercount can deprive us of the Congressional representation that we are entitled to and the funds that we need for good schools, safe roadways and modern hospitals,” Director Lago said.

 

All information submitted by New York City is protected by federal law. The LUCA address list submitted by DCP does not contain any personal information.

The 122,322 newly added addresses are located across the five boroughs. Brooklyn, the borough with the largest housing stock in New York City, had the most addresses added: 41,600. Addresses added in other boroughs included 30,450 in Queens, 30,140 in Manhattan, 14,500 in The Bronx, and 5,600 in Staten Island.

The addresses added by DCP fill in gaps found in postal lists, or account for missing records of renovations and new construction in the earlier years of this decade. Under a separate Census Bureau program for new construction, which runs into early 2020, DCP is expected to submit tens of thousands of additional new addresses.

The Census Bureau will review the submission and update its official address list, enabling the housing units to receive a Census questionnaire. The City’s submission of more than 122,000 addresses missed by the Census Bureau could add more than 300,000 residents to the City’s population, equal to the total population of St. Louis, Missouri or Cincinnati, Ohio.

  • In 2010, nearly 200,000 addresses were added to New York City’s official address list through the LUCA program. In 2000, the LUCA program’s first year, the number was over 400,000.
  • The City’s population topped 8 million in 2000, and grew to more than 8,175,000 in 2010. It’s estimated to be over 8.6 million today.