# Presentation: 769704

## The American Community Survey Data Product Overview

## ACS Data Products

- Already provide updated demographic, social, economic, and housing characteristics every year for many geographic areas
- Will continue to meet the user needs of traditional decennial census long form data
- Will provide data annually rather than at one point in time or every few years

## ACS Timeline

- ACS Data collection (e.g. 2004) is closed out just after the beginning of a calendar year (e.g. 2005)
- Single-year and multi-year data products start to become available in the summer of the same year.
- For example 2004 ACS estimates are released in 2005
- Data products continue to be released for several months
- The cycle repeats EVERY year

## Illustration of a Release schedule for the ACS Data Products (assumes full implementation begins in 2005)

| Type of Data | Population
Size of Area | Data For The Previous Year or Combination of Years Would be Released In The Summer Of:
 2006        2007         2008        2009       2010       2011        2012 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Single-year
estimates | 65,000+ |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| 3-year estimates | 20,000+ |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| 5-year estimates | Down to Census Tract and Block Group  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |

## More sample = more geographic areas can be published

**Example: County-level estimates from the ACS for the 2006 data release**
- NOTE: based on 2003 household population for U.S. counties.

| Time period of estimate | Number of counties | Percent of total U.S. population |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Single-year (2006) for areas with pop=65,000+
 |      761 | 82.5% |
| 3-year averages (2008)
For areas with pop=20,000+
 | +1,044 | 13.0% |
| 5-year averages (2010)
For all areas | +1,336 |   4.5% |
| Total |    3,141 | 100% |

## Topics For Which the ACS Collects Information

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| Place of Birth | Citizenship | Year of Entry |
| --- | --- | --- |
| School Enrollment | Language Spoken at Home | Educational Attainment |
| Disability Status | Labor Force Status | Place of Work |
| Occupation | Industry
 | Journey to Work Patterns |
| Income; Sources of Income | Race; Hispanic Origin | Ancestry, Tribal Affiliation |
| Tenure  | Monthly Rent | Year Structure Built |
| Plumbing; Kitchen Facilities | Heating Fuel, Fuel Costs | Year Moved into Residence |
| Telephone Service, Mortgage | Taxes, Insurance, Utilities | Vehicles Available |
| Units in Structure | Veteran Status | Income |

## ACS Data Products Redesign -- Highlights --

- Revise the Detailed Tables and greatly expand the topics covered
- Improved the Comparison Profile
- Narrative Profiles (unchanged)
- Increase the number of characteristics covered by Ranking Tables
- Public Use Microdata Sample Files (PUMS)
- New: Subject Tables
- New: Selected Population Profiles
- New: Thematic Maps

## BaseTables

- Basic distributions of characteristics
- The foundation upon which other data products are built
- Show estimates and their associated lower and upper bounds of the 90-percent confidence interval
- Include over 400 tables on basic characteristics
- Race and Hispanic origin iterations for more than 40 characteristics
- 81 imputation tables

## Slide 9

## Multi-Year Profiles

- Shows estimates for current year and previous years
- Focuses on key indicators
- Shows where there is a statistically significant difference in the same estimate over time

## Slide 11

## Ranking Tables

- Expanded from 19 to 81 selected subjects
- Available for states, large counties and cities
- Each subject includes a table, graphic representation, and a chart of statistical significance
- Graphs and tables show survey estimates and 90-percent confidence interval

## Slide 13

## Slide 14

## Slide 15

## 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

## Slide 17

## Selected Population Profiles

- Idea: quickly produce a report on a population or
-                    housing sub-group of interest
- Possible examples:
-  We’re still trying to determine how we will use this product – as a part of
-  regular data products and, possibly, as a choice for Special Tabulations customers

- Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islander Race Groups – national or state level profile report
- Children under 18
- The elderly (60 and over)

## Sample Selected Population Profile

## Sample Thematic Map

## Other Products

**Special Tabulations**
- Done on a reimbursable basis similar to the Special Tabs based on            the 2000 Decennial Census
- Disclosure Review Board has different rules for these tables than for the regular data products
- For more information, go to the following URL: http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Products/spec_tabs/index.htm
**Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS)**
-  Created each year from the full ACS sample
-  Size will be approximately 1% of the total sampling universe
-  Recoding and other techniques applied to data to protect confidentiality
- For more information, go to the following URL: http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Products/PUMS/index.htm

## For More Information

**E-mail us at:** *cmo.acs@census.gov*

**American Community Survey Web site** *(www.census.gov/acs/www)*

**Call us at:** *1-888-456-7215*

**Subscribe to the ***ACS Alert*