Use data from the American Community Survey to obtain demographic, social, economic, and housing characteristics.
Use numbers from the 2010 Census to obtain counts of the population and their basic characteristics (sex, age, race, Hispanic origin, and homeowner status).
Use data from the Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program in the years between censuses. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program produces official population estimates for the nation, states, counties, cities and towns, plus housing unit estimates for states and counties.
The Census Bureau collects American Community Survey data from a sample of the population in the United States and Puerto Rico--rather than from the whole population. All ACS data are survey estimates. To help you interpret the reliability of the estimate, the Census Bureau publishes a margin of error (MOE) for every ACS estimate.
Data collected between... | Data pooled to produce | Data published for areas with |
---|---|---|
January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011 | 2011 ACS 1-year estimates | populations of 65,000+ |
January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2011 | 2009-2011 ACS 3-year estimates | populations of 20,000+ |
January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2011 | 2007-2011 ACS 5-year estimates | populations of almost any size |
American Community Survey 1-, 3-, and 5-year estimates are period estimates, which means they represent the characteristics of the population and housing over a specific data collection period. Data are combined to produce 12 months, 36 months or 60 months of data. These are called 1-year, 3-year and 5-year data.
People
Housing