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Pflugerville council debates whether to change how the city counts and reports population
Summary
City staff told council that Pflugerville’s internal population estimate is the product of certificates of occupancy multiplied by 2.85 people per unit, creating a higher figure than Census/ACS estimates; council asked staff to study differences and report back before any methodology change.
Pflugerville City Council members spent a Jan. 13 work session debating whether the city should change how it calculates and publishes population figures, as staff outlined a CO‑based methodology that yields a substantially higher local estimate than recent U.S. Census and American Community Survey (ACS) numbers.
Ashley Bailey, the city’s Planning and Development Services director, told the council the city multiplies certificates of occupancy (COs) by 2.85 persons per household (the 2020 decennial-census figure) to produce its internal estimate. “That is from the 2020 census. That is our gold standard of what we use when we're getting those numbers,” Bailey said, and reported 29,683 dwelling units as of October 2025, which at 2.85 yields an internal estimate of about 84,597 residents.
Sven Griffin, the city’s GIS manager, explained why that…
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