Plans for the First Release of the American Community Survey Five-Year Estimates

• Activity Number: 511
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 4, 2010 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Social Statistics Section
• Author(s): Deborah Griffin*+ and Sharon Stern*+ and Alfredo Navarro*+ and Ken Hodges*+ and Peter Lobo*+
• Companies: U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Census Bureau and Nielsen Claritas and New York City Department of City Planning
• Keywords: survey ; estimates ; data products ; data dissemination ; education challenges

Abstract

Ten years at national implementation and 5-years at full sample, the upcoming release of the first 5-year estimates from the American Community is a major milestone for the young survey. When the ACS was designed, the Census Bureau acknowledged that ACS 5-year estimates would be less reliable than estimates from a decennial long form sample but that improvements in quality from reductions in nonsampling error were expected. This panel revisits those assumptions and discusses the quality and usability of the first set of ACS 5-year estimates. Panelists will discuss the specific set of data products and tables that are scheduled for release and will describe the challenges in educating users to understand and interpret ACS estimates.