American Community Survey (ACS)

What is ACS?

• The American Community Survey (ACS) is an ongoing monthly household survey that replaces the decennial census long form. When it is fully implemented, the ACS will provide:
• Estimates of demographic, social, economic, and housing characteristics every year, not just every ten years
• Estimates for all states, counties, townships, incorporated places, tribal areas, census tracts, and census block groups
  
  

Implementation Schedule

• The American Community Survey was implemented in four phases:
• Demonstration period 1996-1998
• Comparison sites 1999-2001; Black Hawk county has been a comparison site since 1999
• National comparison sample 2000-2004
• Full implementation nationwide 2005 

 
Frequency of Data Releases

• The goal is to provide data to the public within six months of the end of a collection or calendar year.
• The Census Bureau will produce annual estimates for large geographic areas and multi-year averages for small geographic areas every year
• For states and for governmental units with populations of 65,000 or more, the ACS will provide direct estimates for each year.
• For governmental units with populations of 20,000 to 65,000, the ACS will provide data as 3-year averages every year
• For governmental units with populations less than 20,000 and for census tracts and census block groups, the ACS will provide data as 5-year averages every year
• Multi-year estimates of characteristics will be updated each year for every governmental unit and for census tracts and block groups.
  
  

More Information

• More information about the American Community Survey is on the Census Bureau's web site at  www.census.gov/acs/www/