Realizing the Potential of the American Community Survey: Challenges, Tradeoffs, and Opportunities

National Research Council

doi:10.17226/21653

Consensus Study Report

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Realizing the Potential of the American Community Survey

Challenges, Tradeoffs, and Opportunities

(2015)

The American Community Survey (ACS) was conceptualized as a replacement to the census long form, which collected detailed population and housing data from a sample of the U.S. population, once a decade, as part of the decennial census operations. The long form was traditionally the main source of socio-economic information for areas below the national level. The data provided for small areas, such as counties, municipalities, and neighborhoods is what made the long form unique, and what makes the ACS unique today. Since the successful transition from the decennial long form in 2005, the ACS has become an invaluable resource for many stakeholders, particularly for meeting national and state level data needs. However, due to inadequate sample sizes, a major challenge for the survey is producing reliable estimates for smaller geographic areas, which is a concern because of the unique role fulfilled by the long form, and now the ACS, of providing data with a geographic granularity that no other federal survey could provide. In addition to the primary challenge associated with the reliability of the estimates, this is also a good time to assess other aspects of the survey in order to identify opportunities for refinement based on the experience of the first few years.

Realizing the Potential of the American Community Survey provides input on ways of improving the ACS, focusing on two priority areas: identifying methods that could improve the quality of the data available for small areas, and suggesting changes that would increase the survey's efficiency in responding to new data needs. This report considers changes that the ACS office should consider over the course of the next few years in order to further improve the ACS data. The recommendations of Realizing the Potential of the American Community Survey will help the Census Bureau improve performance in several areas, which may ultimately lead to improved data products as the survey enters its next decade.

Contributor(s): National Research Council; Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education; Committee on National Statistics; Panel on Addressing Priority Technical Issues for the Next Decade of the American Community Survey

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Suggested Citation

National Research Council. 2015. Realizing the Potential of the American Community Survey: Challenges, Tradeoffs, and Opportunities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/21653.

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Publication Info

314 pages | 6 x 9 |

ISBNs:

Paperback: 978-0-309-36678-6
Ebook: 978-0-309-36681-6

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17226/21653

Chapters		skim
Front Matter	i-xii
Summary	1-12
1 Vision for the American Community Survey	13-22
2 Sample Design and Precision of Estimates	23-45
3 Data Collection Methods	46-58
4 Data Processing and Analytic Issues	59-77
5 Data Dissemination	78-98
6 Survey Content	99-113
References	114-120
Appendix A: Usability Analysis: Tract-Level 2008-2012 ACS Data	121-128
Appendix B: Examples of Differences Between Census Counts and ACS Population Estimates	129-136
Appendix C: Data Quality Filtering Rates, 1-Year ACS Data, 2012	137-197
Appendix D: Data Quality Filtering Rates, 3-Year Data, 2010-2012	198-260
Appendix E: 2014 American Community Survey Mail Questionnaire	261-275
Appendix F: ACS Questions by Year Introduced and Agency	276-295
Appendix G: Biographical Sketches of Panel Members and Staff	296-300
Committee on National Statistics	301-302

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