**PerCapita Income**

**Sources:** U.S.Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) and Puerto Rico Community Survey(PRCS), 5-Year Estimates. The PRCS is part of the Census Bureau's ACS, customized for Puerto Rico. BothSurveys are updated every year.

**Definition**

Per capitaincome is the mean income computed for every man, woman, and child in aparticular group including those living in group quarters. It is derived bydividing the aggregate income of a particular group by the total population inthat group. This measure is rounded to the nearest whole dollar. For thecomplete definition, go to ACS subject definitions "Income in thePast 12 Months, Per Capita Income."

**Source andAccuracy**

This Factis based on data collected in the American Community Survey (ACS) and thePuerto Rico Community Survey (PRCS) conducted annually by the U.S. CensusBureau. A sample of over 3.5 million housing unit addresses is interviewed eachyear over a 12 month period. This Fact (estimate) is based on five years of ACSand PRCS sample data and describes the average value of person, household andhousing unit characteristics over this period of collection.

Statisticsfrom all surveys are subject to sampling and nonsampling error. Sampling erroris the uncertainty between an estimate based on a sample and the correspondingvalue that would be obtained if the estimate were based on the entirepopulation (as from a census). Measures of sampling error are provided in theform of margins of error for all estimates included with ACS and PRCS publishedproducts. The Census Bureau recommends that data users incorporate thisinformation into their analyses, as sampling error in survey estimates couldimpact the conclusions drawn from the results. The data for each geographicarea are presented together with margins of error at Using margins of error. A more detailedexplanation of margins of error and a demonstration of how to use them isprovided below.

For moreinformation on sampling and estimation methodology, confidentiality, andsampling and nonsampling errors, please see the Multiyear Accuracy (US) and theMultiyear Accuracy (Puerto Rico) documents at "Documentation - Accuracy of the data."

**Margin ofError**

Asmentioned above, ACS estimates are based on a sample and are subject tosampling error. The margin of error measures the degree of uncertainty causedby sampling error. The margin of error is used with an ACS estimate toconstruct a confidence interval about the estimate. The interval is formed by addingthe margin of error to the estimate (the upper bound) and subtracting themargin of error from the estimate (the lower bound). It is expected with 90percent confidence that the interval will contain the full population value ofthe estimate. The following example is for demonstrating purposes only. Supposethe ACS reported that the percentage of people in a state who were 25 years andolder with a bachelor's degree was 21.3 percent and that the margin of errorassociated with this estimate was 0.7 percent. By adding and subtracting themargin of error from the estimate, we calculate the 90-percent confidenceinterval for this estimate:

21.3% -0.7% = 20.6% => Lower-bound estimate21.3% + 0.7% = 22.0% => Upper-bound estimate

Therefore,we can be 90 percent confident that the percent of the population 25 years andolder having a bachelor's degree in a state falls somewhere between 20.6percent and 22.0 percent.

For thisFact, its estimates and margins of error along with percents and percentmargins of errors can be found on American Community Survey, Data Profiles-EconomicCharacteristics

**MoreInformation**

- Questions on the ACS form and why we ask
- ACS methodology
- Income data