US Census Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MONDAY, APRIL 5, 2004

Robert Bernstein

CB04-55

Public Information Office

(301) 763-3030/457-3670 (fax)

(301) 457-1037 (TDD)

e-mail: pio@census.gov

*NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS*

On Aug. 26, 2004, the U.S. Census Bureau plans to hold a news conference to release the consolidated report on money income, poverty and health insurance coverage for our nation — results obtained from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) to the Current Population Survey (CPS). Simultaneously, the Census Bureau plans to release data from the 2003 American Community Survey (ACS).

The CPS-ASEC produces the official national estimates for poverty, plus the Census Bureau’s estimates for money income and health insurance coverage. The CPS-ASEC is designed to collect information on detailed income sources.

The ACS is the largest survey in the nation and produces the same in-depth socio-economic data as the decennial census long form. The ACS provides subnational statistics on a host of characteristics, such as income and poverty, educational attainment, average travel time to work and median home values.

The Census Bureau is accelerating the production of the official poverty measure in order that its release coincides with the August release of ACS. By combining the release of the CPS income and poverty measures and the ACS data, the Census Bureau hopes to eliminate some of the confusion that resulted from last year’s separate release of data from these two surveys.

Alternative measures of income, poverty and material measures of well-being using CPS-ASEC data will be released this fall. These measures take into account the effect of taxes, food stamps and other noncash benefits on income and the presence of consumer durables.

CPS supplementary tables on income, poverty and health insurance coverage will be put on the Census Bureau’s Internet site as they become available. The attached guidance for data users will provide clarity on where and how to use the income and poverty estimates from these two surveys.

The Public Information Office will issue a media advisory in early August with the time and exact location of the news conference. Like last year, the event will be held at Census Bureau headquarters in Suitland, Md., and bus transportation will be provided.

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Comparison of 2003 Income and Poverty Estimates from the American Community Survey (ACS) and the Current Population Survey’s Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS-ASEC)
	ACS	CPS-ASEC
Principal purpose	Replace census long form; provides median household and other measures of money income and poverty estimates for the nation and the states, as well as most cities and metropolitan areas with populations of 250,000 or more. (By 2010, the ACS will release data for areas as small as census tracts.)	Estimates of median household and other measures of money income, health insurance coverage and the official annual estimate of poverty for the nation and the states.
Time frame	Data collected monthly throughout the year for the preceding 12 months.	Calendar year 2003 for national estimate. (Data collected over three months in early 2004.) Three-year average (2001-2003) for states.
Geography	Nation, states, places (cities), counties and, eventually, census tracts (neighborhoods)	Nation and states
Sample size	800,000 households a year (about 3 million a year starting in January 2005)	100,000 households
Collection method	Mail, phone, personal visit	Phone, personal visit
Length and detail of questions	Income during previous 12 months using series of eight questions	More than 50 sources of income for 2003 and up to 27 individual income values
GUIDANCE FOR USE OF SURVEY ESTIMATES: Data users seeking national income and poverty estimates should use CPS-ASEC. Data users seeking state estimates should use either CPS-ASEC or ACS. ACS should be used for income and poverty for substate areas. ACS has a larger household sample size while CPS-ASEC asks considerably more detailed questions.

Releases « African American , Amer. Indian & Alaska native , Asian , Health Care & Insurance , Hispanic Origin Population , Income & Wealth , Native Hawaiian , Poverty