20

Consumer Expenditure Survey compared

with the American Community Survey

whereas ACS does. Because the two surveys sample different 

universes, they are expected to have different results.

Residency requirements. For ACS, an individual is considered 

a resident if he/she is currently staying in that household and 

has been or will be staying at that address for more than 2 

months of the year. For CE, to be considered a resident, an 

individual must reside in the address for more than 6 months 

out of a year. The difference in residency requirements has 

two significant impacts on the comparability of the surveys. 

The first is that ACS includes more individuals as members 

of the household. The resulting expectation is that ACS will 

have higher estimates for both household income and food 

stamp receipt. 

The second significant impact results because fewer 

individuals are considered usual residents by CE than by 

ACS. Since CE restricts its sample universe to households 

with at least one usual resident, the stricter definition of usual 

resident serves to further decrease CE’s sample universe. The 

expectations regarding the inclusion of additional properties 

by ACS are ambiguous. While ambiguous, this difference may 

affect all expenditure comparisons but especially mortgages, 

which for CE are broken down into primary and vacation 

home. For ACS, mortgages are not differentiated into primary 

and vacation.

Household definition. ACS includes all individuals within a 

housing unit as one household while CE divides residents of a 

housing unit into consumer units. A consumer unit is defined 

as any of the following: (1) All members of a particular household who are related by blood, marriage, adoption, or other 

legal arrangements; (2) a person living alone or sharing a 

household with others or living as a roomer in a private home 

or lodging house or in permanent living quarters in a hotel or 

motel, but who is financially independent; or (3) two or more 

persons living together who use their incomes to make joint 

expenditure decisions. Financial independence is determined 

by spending behavior with regard to the three major expense 

categories: Housing, food, and other living expenses. To be 

considered financially independent, the respondent must provide at least two of the three major expenditure categories, 

either entirely or in part. 

Therefore, multiple CUs may exist in each CE housing 

unit. CE households are smaller on average: the ACS household size averages 2.6 persons, compared with 2.5 persons in 

the average CE consumer unit. 

This article compares methods and data from the Bureau 

of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey 

(CE) with those of the U.S. Census Bureau American 

Community Survey (ACS). Because of the reliability of the 

ACS in terms of response rates and sample size, CE expenditure 

data were compared with the expenditure data collected by 

ACS. The ACS collects and publishes nationwide statistics on 

socioeconomic and housing indicators/characteristics. ACS 

data are used by numerous organizations to evaluate social and 

economic changes among communities. These data have been 

used for measuring childhood poverty, public transportation 

usage, and the need for new roads and other infrastructure and 

services. 

The ACS, which replaces the decennial census longform, was fully implemented in 2006. The ACS surveys 

over 3 million addresses per year, resulting in 2 million 

final interviews. (Addresses in the sample that are not valid 

residential addresses are not interviewed.) Participation in 

the ACS is required and response rates hover in the mid-90-

percent range. With such a large sample and high response 

rate, the ACS survey is subject to less sampling error than 

is the Consumer Expenditure Interview Survey, whose 

yearly sample is about 28,000 completed interviews. The 

CE Interview Survey was used for this comparison, as it is 

the primary source of published data on the expenditure 

items compared here. Though the ACS is not designed as an 

expenditure survey, some expenditure questions are asked 

on rent, utilities, property taxes, property insurance, and 

mortgages. The ACS also includes questions on income and 

food stamp receipt. Before proceeding with the comparison, 

numerous methodological differences between the CE 

Interview Survey and ACS should be noted. 

Methods used in the surveys

Sample universe differences. ACS is a survey of all residential 

addresses including both owned and vacation homes, while 

CE includes only those residential addresses where at least 

one individual is a usual resident. Addresses which for CE 

are out of scope (because all individuals staying there have a 

usual residence elsewhere) are included in the ACS survey; 

thus, the ACS sample universe is both larger and different 

from that of CE. 

Another difference between the sample universes of the 

two surveys is the treatment of group quarters. CE does not 

include State prisons, local jails, institutional halfway houses, military on-post barracks, and correctional institutions, 
21

Expenditures. Expenditures collected by CE include all 

expenditures made by the individuals who constitute that 

consumer unit. This includes expenditures for primary 

residences, vacation homes, and also expenditures made on 

behalf of someone else for properties not owned by the CU. 

Expenditures collected by ACS refer only to those expenditures 

made with respect to that housing unit; for example, 

utilities, rent, mortgage, and fuel all refer to expenditures 

for only the specific property in the sample. ACS does not 

differentiate whether the individuals in the housing unit were 

the individuals who made the expenditures. ACS collects the 

expenditures made with regard to that housing unit regardless 

of who made them. CE, however, collects expenditures by all 

members of the consumer unit. These expenditures may or 

may not include those expenditures for the housing unit in 

the CE sample. For instance, if a CE consumer unit member 

did not pay the mortgage for the housing unit in which he/

she reside, the expenditure would not be collected in the CE 

survey, while it would be collected in ACS. However, if a 

CE consumer unit member paid the mortgage for someone 

outside their CU, that expenditure would be collected by CE 

and not by ACS.

The CE and ACS also differ in their treatment of business 

expenses. In CE expenditures for rent, mortgage, and utilities 

are reduced by the percentage reported as business expenses. 

The ACS does not reduce reported expenditures for the portion of expenses incurred for a business.

Other methodological differences. Collection and reference 

period differences exist between the two surveys. The ACS interviews each housing unit only once, while the CE Interview 

Survey is administered over a period of five quarters. Data for 

an entire year are collected by CE, while ACS collects data 

at one point for the previous year. ACS uses the date of the 

interview as the reference point or as the end of the reference 

period; CE collects expenditures made during the reference 

period, generally the previous 3 months prior to the interview 

month. ACS income data are then inflation adjusted using the 

difference between the average Consumer Price Index (CPI) 

for the 12 months in the survey year and the average CPI for 

each respondent’s 12-month reference period as the adjustment factor; CE data are not inflation adjusted. 

Administration differs between the surveys, as well. The 

ACS is intended as a self-administered survey, however, if no 

response is received, a telephone interview is attempted. If 

the telephone interview is unsuccessful, an interview in person is attempted. The CE is primarily a personal interview 

survey and is not designed to be self-administered.

Finally, differences exist in question wording and the level 

of detail requested from the respondent. Because ACS is not 

designed as an expenditure survey, the categories tend to be 

broader and more inclusive than those collected by CE. The 

CE utilizes an Information Booklet which provides specific 

examples of what should be included and excluded as well as 

detailed question wording. For example, the CE question on 

rent directs survey participants to “include any extra charges 

for garage or parking facilities, but to exclude direct payments by local, state or federal agencies.” ACS questions are 

less specific. For instance, the ACS question for rent asks the 

monthly rent for the property without any additional information on inclusions and exclusions.

In addition to methodological differences between the two 

surveys, there are differences in the way in which the estimates are produced which will result in differences in estimates. Expenditures collected by ACS for real estate taxes are 

reported on the micro data file as a range. In calculations, the 

mid-point of the range was used; values were then weighted 

and averaged. It should be noted that there is no reason to assume an even distribution across the range of values (0-$50, 

$51-$100, etc.).

Results from the surveys

The ACS data used in the comparisons in table 1 are calculated using the ACS microdata file which is top coded, imputed, and corrected through data adjustment. The published 

CE microdata are also topcoded, imputed, and data adjusted, 

however, the data used in this article are taken from detailed, 

internal use expenditure tables that are not subject to topcoding. For this report, ACS estimates were calculated using the 

provided ACS weights, averaged, and in some cases annualized. Additionally, data were subset for housing units that are 

not vacant. (Vacant households are defined as units that have 

no residents according to ACS residency rules stated earlier.)

Text table 6 shows that the Consumer Expenditure Survey 

average annual sample expenditure estimates of rented dwellings, water and sewerage maintenance, electricity, fuel oil 

and other fuels, second mortgages, property taxes, and household income are 88 to 120 percent of those from ACS. For 

2006 and 2007, estimates of natural gas are 72 percent and 

74 percent of ACS, respectively. The difference in estimates 

from CE and ACS for natural gas could be the result of the 

specificity of the questions in CE, compared with the broader 

questions asked by ACS. Differences could also have resulted 

from the price fluctuation of gas and its derivatives considering the time period differences between the two surveys and 

the adjustment of values by ACS using the CPI. 

Income estimates, which are impacted by the differences in 

household residency rules and the inclusion of all members of 

an address by ACS, compared with only members of the CU 

by CE, are 94 percent and 93 percent of ACS estimates. 

Estimates of mortgages, including mortgages for vacation homes and other properties not owned by the CU but for 

which the CU makes a payment, are 84 percent of ACS. As 

mentioned above, the ACS estimates for mortgages include 

vacation homes if the home is occupied by at least one individual for 2 months out of the year. ACS and CE estimates 

for mortgages both include property taxes and insurance, but 

only if the respondent included these items in the mortgage 

payment that they reported. 

Overall, CE estimates compare well with ACS, when 

controlling for the expected differences between the estimates 

due to differences in household definition. Furthermore, 
22

Text table 6. Comparison of characteristics and average annual expenditures for selected items, Consumer Expenditure Survey 

(CE) and American Community Survey, (ACS) 2006–07

Item

2006 2007

CE ACS Ratio of CE to 

ACS CE ACS Ratio of CE to 

ACS

Consumer unit characteristics:

 Number of persons per unit............ 2.5 2.6 0.96 2.5 2.6 0.96

 Average annual income.................. $60,533 $64,487 0.94 $63,091 $68,106 0.93

Expenditures:

 Rent................................................ $2437 $2639 0.92 $2491 $2776 0.89

 Utilities............................................ 2241 2556 0.95 2250 2551 0.88

 Water................................................ 328 311 1.05 317 321 0.99

 Electricity .......................................... 1266 1406 0.90 1302 1449 0.90

 Natural gas ....................................... 509 709 0.72 480 652 0.74

 Fuel oil and other fuels ..................... 138 130 1.06 151 129 1.17

 All mortgages.................................... 5831 6909 0.84 6278 7404 0.85

 Mortgage .......................................... 5052 6299 0.80 5432 6733 0.81

 Second mortgages ........................... 779 610 1.27 846 671 1.26

 Property tax .................................... 1648 1373 1.20 1708 1376 1.24

 Homeowner's/ renter’s insurance... 352 542 0.66 350 567 0.62

SOURCE: ACS data for 2006–07 are calculated from the Public Use 

Microdata Samples (PUMS) file available on the Internet at www.

census.gov/acs/www/Products/PUMS/index.html.

differences between the two estimates are greatest where 

methodological differences have the greatest impact, primarily 

with regards to mortgages. Unfortunately, because of the 

sharp methodological differences between the two surveys, it 

cannot be definitively concluded whether CE underestimates 

expenditures by comparing estimates with ACS.