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American Community Survey
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The American Community Survey (ACS) is part of the Decennial Census Program. This survey is sent to a random sample of households in the United States and Puerto Rico on a rotating basis. The ACS collects information from U.S. households similar to what was collected on the decennial census "long form," such as age, race, sex, Hispanic origin, income and benefits, health insurance, education, veteran status, disabilities, place of work and commuting, and housing costs. These data previously were collected only in census years in conjunction with the decennial census. Since the ACS is conducted every year, rather than once every ten years, it provides more current data throughout the decade. The ACS is an ongoing survey that provides data on an annual basis. The ACS is a national survey sent to about 250,000 households each month or about 3,000,000 households per year. The ACS began in 1996, collecting data in a limited number of areas. The survey expanded in subsequent years, reaching full national coverage in 2005. The Census Bureau now conducts the ACS in every county of the United States. The internal microdata files also include a geography file providing the MAFID (Master Address File ID) of each sampled housing unit.
Detailed Methodology
Random samples of U.S Household addresses. Each month ~250,000 surveys are distributed across the U.S.
The ACS has an annual sample size of about 3.5 million addresses. Data are pooled across a calendar year to produce estimates for that year. As a result, ACS estimates reflect data that have been collected over a period of time rather than for a single point in time. Because the ACS is based on a sample, rather than all housing units and people, ACS estimates have a degree of uncertainty associated with them, called sampling error. In general, the larger the sample, the smaller the level of sampling error. To help users understand the impact of sampling error on data reliability, the Census Bureau provides a “margin of error” for each published ACS estimate. The margin of error, combined with the ACS estimate, give users a range of values within which the actual “real-world” value is likely to fall.
ACS 1-year estimates are data that have been collected over a 12-month period and are available for geographic areas with at least 65,000 people. The Census Bureau combines 5 consecutive years of ACS data to produce estimates for geographic areas with fewer than 65,000 residents. These 5-year estimates represent data collected over a period of 60 months. Starting with the 2014 ACS, the Census Bureau is also producing “1-year Supplemental Estimates”—simplified versions of popular ACS tables—for geographic areas with at least 20,000 people. The COVID-19 pandemic presented data collection challenges resulting in under-representation of certain populations in some surveys. This non-response bias may impact the ability to conduct certain research. Additional information for the ACS can be found at https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/news/data-releases/2020/release.html and https://www.census.gov/library/working-papers/2021/acs/2021_Rothbaum_01.html.
Request BOC PIK Crosswalk American Community Survey to assign PIKs to respondents. Pre-2005 ACS files are considered experimental and justification is required for access/approval.. Block Group . Block