The Census Bureau failed to count nearly 1 percent of Hamilton County's population during the 2000 head count, a miscue that could cost the county millions of dollars in state and federal aid, a federal watchdog group says.

        The U.S. Census Monitoring Board estimates the once-a-decade count missed 6.4 million people nationwide — including 7,570 Hamilton County residents.

        Monitoring board co-chair Gilbert F. Casellas said this week his group released figures for the nation's largest counties because the Census Bureau has ignored requests for the information.

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        “People at the state and county levels have been demanding release of these figures, but their requests have fallen on deaf ears,” said Mr. Casellas, whose group was established by Congress in 1997 to oversee the 2000 count.

        Cincinnati and Hamilton County officials were unavailable for comment.

        The Census Bureau has described the count as the most accurate in U.S. history but acknowledged some people were inevitably missed, mostly in larger cities and rural areas.

        Previously, Cincinnati Planning Director Liz Blume vowed to review the population count block by block to figure out whether census workers missed households.

        If discrepancies are found, Ms. Blume will recommend the city challenge the count.

        The Census Bureau counted a 9 percent drop in Cincinnati's population to 331,285 during the 1990s; Hamilton County's population slid 2.4 percent to 845,303.

        The monitoring board's estimates, calculated by a Temple University professor, showed the undercount was greatest in areas with large immigrant populations.

        The monitoring board said:

        • Los Angeles County had the largest undercount — 1.8 percent of its population, or 176,047 people. Cook County, Ill. and Harris County, Texas were the only other U.S. counties with an undercount of more than 70,000.

        • In Ohio, more people were missed in Cuyahoga and Franklin than Hamilton County. There were smaller undercounts in Montgomery and Summit counties.

        The census is used in dozens of ways by government and private officials. The census count is used to distribute federal and state social services and development funds to local government.

        Cincinnati estimated the 1990 census undercount cost the city up to $40 million in federal funds over the decade and political clout as district lines for congressional and state legislature seats were redrawn.

        A previous monitoring board report ranked Cincinnati as the least productive among 42 Census 2000 offices in Ohio, Michigan and West Virginia.

        The report found nearly three of every four census workers quit the Cincinnati office before the count was completed, forcing the Census Bureau to bring in workers from other offices.

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