Results of the 2010 federal Census for New York State and St. Lawrence County are expected to be released within the next 24 hours.

The information is important because it can affect the amount of state and federal aid counties and communities receive. Population shifts also affect political redistricting.

The Census Bureau shipped local 2010 Census data to the Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the leadership of the state legislature today.

Census Bureau officials say they expect to release the New York State results to the public around 2 p.m. Thursday.

At that time, the full set of data will be available via FTP download at http://www2.census.gov/census_2010/01-Redistricting_File--PL_94-171/ . Within 24 hours after release, the data will also be posted on the Census Bureau’s new American FactFinder site at http://factfinder2.census.gov.

The data will include summaries of population totals, as well as data on race, Hispanic origin and voting age for multiple geographies within the state, such as census blocks, tracts, voting districts, cities, counties and school districts.

According to Public Law 94-171, the Census Bureau must provide redistricting data to the 50 states no later than April 1 of the year following the census. As a result, the Census Bureau has been delivering the data state-by-state on a flow basis in February and March so all states receive their data by April 1, 2011.