American Community Survey (ACS)

1999 - 2001 American Community Survey
Sample Size for Counties and County Equivalents Published

The number in sample is the 12 month sample for the American Community Survey. The number in sample includes interviewed housing units, deletes (addresses which had been misclassified as housing units or demolished units), noninterviewed housing units and housing units that were subsampled out. The number of interviews is the actual sample that is used to produce all weighted estimates for the survey year. The number of interviews includes both occupied and vacant housing units. For example, a sampled case that refuses to answer the survey (a noninterview) would be in the sample but would not be an interview. Similarly a sampled case that turns out to be a business address would be a sampled case (a delete), but would not be an interview.

The American Community Survey uses three modes of data collection - mail, telephone and personal visit. The sample has a three month data collection period; the first month is by mail and the second month by telephone. Those who have not responded by mail or telephone two months after the initial mailout are identified and sampled at a rate of 1-in-3. The households selected in the 1-in-3 sample are then enumerated by personal visit during the third month of the data collection period. The other two out of three cases that were not selected for personal visit are the subsampled out cases. Also, because of the three month interview period, some cases (telephone cases from the December panel and personal visit cases from the November and December panels) included in the sample selected in one year are tabulated in the next year's sample estimates.

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