The City of Cedar Park is waiting for the U.S. Census Bureau to respond to city officials' claim that the 2010 census miscounted the city's population.

The 2010 census counted 48,937 Cedar Park residents, about 5,000 fewer than internal tallies conducted by the city the same year. Last spring, the Cedar Park City Council directed staff to apply for a Census Count Resolution. That challenge was accepted by the Census Bureau on Aug. 2, 2011, but its status is still pending, said Rawls Howard, director of planning and development services.

Howard said the Census Bureau did not count homes included in the city's maps.

"If you take those small discrepancies in these small geographic areas and multiply them exponentially over the entire city, that comes up to thousands of folks as far as a discrepancy is concerned, and that's what we submitted to the census," he said.

The Cenus Bureau lists Cedar Park as one of 108 municipalities challenging the official 2010 population count for their jurisdictions. Of those, 94 are still pending, according to the Census Bureau.

Howard said he believes Cedar Park's early submission puts the challenge request toward the top of the list.

"They were listing out who submitted and so forth, and we were easily in the first bunch of handfuls that were listed," he said. "Our understanding of working with the Census [Bureau] is they put you in a queue, and they queue you up, and it's sort of like a first-come, first-serve basis."

There is no timeline on a response from the Census Bureau, which will review the maps, aerial photos and other documentation sent by the city before making a decision. A population greater than 50,000 is a benchmark for a city, said Phil Brewer, Cedar Park economic development director.

"There are a lot of retail businesses and restuarants that typically base their locations on population, per-capita income and disposable incomes," Brewer said. "So for a long time, that 50,000 has been the jumping off point for some restaurants."