Alva Review-Courier -

When officials in Chester, Georgia, heard that the 2020 census had pegged their small town at 525 people, their jaws dropped. They believed the town was almost triple that size and feared an inaccurate number could force them to make budget cuts.

"I said, 'Whoa, that's not right,'" City Clerk Melanie McCook said. "The first thing I thought is, 'This is going to affect our revenues greatly.'"

Chester and two other small, rural municipalities in Georgia are the first communities in the U.S. to challenge the accuracy of their numbers from the once-a-decade head count. Successful challenges are sc...