The city of Aurora is now gearing up for a special census that has faced various delays, although the start date is still uncertain.
Aurora previously sought a recount after the 2020 decennial census showed the city had a population of around 180,000, down from 197,000 in 2010 — numbers that city officials have disputed, arguing that the city’s population is actually closer to the levels found in the 2010 census.
The perceived undercount, city officials have said, is costing the city millions of dollars in lost tax revenue each year.
The Aurora City Council in 2024 agreed to pay the U.S. Census Bureau $1 million
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for a special census that it hoped would count additional residents. The special census recount, originally scheduled to start in early February 2025, was then delayed twice.First, the federal government postponed the special census just one day before Aurora was set to hold its kick-off event. Then, in June, Aurora itself delayed the recount over concerns it would further undercount city residents, leading to even less state and federal funding.
Aurora Mayor John Laesch said later in the year that the city would be submitting for a partial census recount looking just at new construction, rather than trying to recount areas officials believed were previously undercounted.
While the city is still waiting on the official start date and the approved maps showing which parts of the city will be recounted, the Census Bureau has begun hiring for the special census, a city spokesperson said in a statement to The Beacon-News.
This past week, Aurora posted on social media and shared in a virtual newsletter about these job openings.
The Census Bureau is hiring field representatives at $21 per hour, field supervisors at $24.50 per hour and clerks at $21 per hour, according to the city’s emailed newsletter. Those interest in applying can visit: www.aurora.il.us/SpecialCensusJobs
A city spokesperson clarified that the federal Census Bureau is hiring for the positions, not Aurora, but that the city is promoting the openings at the direction of the bureau.
“The objective is for local residents to apply and get hired for these roles, as this increases the chances of a successful special census campaign,” the city spokesperson said.
Although an exact date is not yet set, the city is expecting the recount to take place in late summer, the city’s virtual newsletter said.
Last year, city staff suggested the special census map be redrawn to focus primarily on areas of new growth, basically guaranteeing that it would find new residents, rather than focusing mostly on areas that may have been undercounted in the 2020 census. With the delay, they said, more of the developments currently under construction would be complete, meaning more residents to be counted.
At the time, Aurora decided to delay the recount census focused on potentially undercounted areas, and instead resubmit for a special census focused just on new growth, for a number of reasons.
For one, the start date proposed by the Census Bureau would have given the city less than a month to get the word out to the community and build public trust, Aurora officials said last year.
Plus, many community and faith-based organizations working with the city’s Hispanic population told city staff that the special census would not be successful because of how hard these organizations worked to warn people against opening their doors or speaking to anyone working for the federal government, given the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign.
People may have also been concerned about giving over personal data to the federal government for similar reasons, city officials said at the time.
Recruiting for census positions was also a concern. If going with the date given by the Census Bureau at the time, the city would have needed to recruit 53 people to be trained and act as federal workers — and even with much more time to prepare, the previous administration was only able to find 22 qualified applicants for the originally-planned date, city staff said last year.
On Tuesday, Laesch said that a “pretty aggressive” recruiting effort for the upcoming special census, which he will be involved in, was set to begin relatively soon.
The thing that will make the biggest difference in the special census will be hiring people from within the Aurora community, according to Chief of Staff Shannon Cameron. That way, she said, the census workers will understand the community, know how to talk to people and be recognized by other residents.
Aurora will be looking to partner with community groups, churches, homeowners associations and similar organizations in the target areas to help get the word out, Cameron said. The communication effort is expected to begin within the next few weeks, she said.
Cameron is planning to make a presentation to the Aurora City Council with more details about the city’s plans in early April, once more details are ironed out.
No additional city funds will be needed to fund the special census, as the Census Bureau will use the $1 million already approved by City Council, a city spokesperson said. Aurora may even be getting some of those funds back, they said, as the Bureau estimated the effort would cost just over $500,000.
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The city may spend some of the funds carried over from the 2025 budget to help put on hiring fairs, community engagement efforts and door knockings to encourage residents to respond to the Internet Self-Response period before federal census workers hit the pavement for the counting process, according to the city spokesperson.
Officials previously said that the special census would only need to find around 1,000 extra residents to pay for itself.
Between April 2020 and July 2024, the Census Bureau estimates that Aurora’s population grew by 0.1%.