NURS 5515 — Providing Care at the Community Level — Read: American Community Survey

The American Community Survey (ACS) is part of the Decennial Census Program. The Bureau randomly selects about 3 million addresses each year to participate in the survey. These data previously were collected only in census years in conjunction with the decennial census. Since the ACS is conducted every year, rather than once every ten years, it will provide more current data throughout the decade.

The ACS:

• Collects and produces population and housing information every year instead of every ten years.
• Updates population and housing statistics every year. Covers age, race, income, commute time to work, home value, veteran status, and other important data. Surveys about three million housing unit addresses annually.
• Gives one-year estimates for geographic areas with a population of 65,000 or more, including 800 counties and 500 metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas and 5-year estimates for areas with a population less than 20,000.

You can find fact sheets on the ACS website that explain why the Census conducts this survey and asks each question on the survey.

Since its beginning as a test in the late 1990s, the ACS has evolved to replace the census sample questionnaire (the "long form") that was sent out until 2000 to roughly one out of six households (a 17% sample).

ACS collects data monthly from roughly 250,000 households (3.54 million each year) across the nation, a 2.3% sample (about one in 50 households) over a year or 11.5% over five years (roughly one in nine). 
 
The annual ACS budget is about $250 million, and even a five-year cycle is a real bargain compared to a full census with sample questionnaires.
 
The good news for students and researchers is that the data is more up-to-date (and costs less to get).
 
The bad news is that the ACS data has a much higher sample error, so it's less reliable and has a much higher margin of error — sometimes the margin of error is higher than the actual estimate.