The American Community Survey: An Overview

Pamela Klein, Statistician

Office of the Associate Director for Decennial Census

U.S. Census Bureau

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Purpose of the ACS

• Collect Detailed Decennial Census Sample Data Every Month Instead of Only Once Each Decade

• Release Tabulations of These Data on a Yearly Basis

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• Restructure and Simplify the 2010 Census

  • Improve the accuracy of Census coverage

  • Improve the relevance and timeliness of detailed data

  • Reduce operational risk

  • Contain cost

Purpose of the ACS

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Why is the ACS important?

• Many federal agencies set policy at the national and state levels using census data

• The ACS allows federal agencies to respond to trends in a timely manner by providing up to date data for use in allocation formulas

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American Community Survey
Program Schedule

• ACS testing and development: 1996-2004

• ACS full implementation began in 2005

• First ACS data products, 2006; annually updated data products each year thereafter

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Full Implementation

• Implement a national sample of about 3 million addresses in every county, American Indian and Alaska Native area, and Hawaiian Home Land in the United States, and in Puerto Rico

• Provide profiles every year for communities of 65,000 or more

• Provide 3- to 5-year cumulations for communities of less than 65,000 population

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Why is the ACS important?

• Many federal agencies set policy at the national and state levels using census data

• The ACS allows federal agencies to respond to trends in a timely manner by providing up to date data for use in allocation formulas

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ACS Facts

• Response is required by Title 13

• Respondents must answer all questions

• Estimates are “ok”

• Questionnaire assistance hotline

• Administered by the Regional Offices

• Multiple methods of data collection for non-responders

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• Three month data collection period

• Three modes of data collection

  • Mail

  • Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI)

  • Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI)

• Data is confidential

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Information collected in the ACS

• Age and relationship

• Grandparents responsible for grandchildren

• Disability

• Language spoken at home and English fluency

• Income

• Housing costs

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ACS Data Products Release Schedule

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2005 Geographic Areas

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2005 Geographic Areas

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Detailed Tables
(a.k.a. “Base Tables”)

• Basic distributions of characteristics

• The foundation upon which other data products are built

• Show estimates and their associated margins of error at the 90-percent confidence interval

• More than 1,200 of these tables, including tables repeated for race and Hispanic origin iterations as well as imputation tables

• Currently modeled on the Decennial SF 3

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Data Profiles

• Provide estimates of selected summary characteristics and important derived measures for each geographic area

• Rely on data tabulated in the Detailed Tables

• Produced for four distinct sets of characteristics:

  • General demographic

  • Social

  • Economic

  • Housing

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Narrative Profiles

• Plain-language descriptions with simple graphs

• Summarize information on a wide array of subjects using words, rather than numbers

• Intended for general-purpose users

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Ranking Tables

• 86 selected subjects

• Available for states

• Each subject includes a table, graphic representation, and a chart of statistical significance

• Graphs and tables show survey estimates and 90-percent margins of error

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Subject Tables

• Derived from Detailed Tables

• Show more detail than is available in the Profiles

• For a given topic, present distributions for a few relevant subgroups

• Allow for other measures such as percentages, medians and aggregates where appropriate

• Include the imputation rates for relevant measures

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Selected Population Profiles

Two Types of Selected Population Profiles:

• • Race, Ethnic and Ancestry groups

  • Age or other Characteristics

Profiles are created when

• • The population group of interest is 65,000 or greater, and

  • The corresponding geographic area of interest has a population of 1 million or more.

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Public Use Microdata Sample Files

• Microdata are individual records which contain information collected about each person and housing unit.

• Includes basic record types and computerized versions of the questionnaires collected from households.

• PUMS files are extracts from the confidential microdata taken in a manner that avoids disclosure of information about households or individuals.

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http://factfinder.census.gov/home/en/acs_pums_2005.html

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http://dataferrett.census.gov/

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2005 User’s Guide

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For More Information

American Community Survey Office

1-888-346-9682

www.census.gov/acs/www

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

U.S. Census Bureau

Washington, DC 20233