American Community Survey Data for Community Planning

American Community Survey Data for Community Planning helps new and expert data users:

Learn practical skills for finding and using population and housing statistics from the U. S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey.
Investigate issues that challenge your community, state, the nation, and different population groups.


The American Community Survey (ACS) is a powerful new dataset but it is not your mother's decennial census. Learn:

How to find and analyze demographic, social, economic, and housing statistics for geographic areas and people (e.g., teenage mothers, college graduates, poor families).
The basics for finding and using data in the American Community Survey.
The strengths of the data set and its limitations.

Many of the skills and concepts you learn from American Community Survey Data for Community Planning will help you find and use other data sets from the U. S. Census Bureau including the decennial census.

American Community Survey Data for Community Planning covers:

Part I: American Community Survey Basics ?the essentials you need to formulate your questions and identify your data needs.

Part II: Finding Your Data teaches geographic concepts and helps you use the American FactFinder to find the data.

Part III: Making Sense of Your Data describes analytic techniques, sources of error in data, differences between census counts and survey estimates, aspects of data accuracy and accounting for sampling error in your analyses, and how to compare estimates.

Part IV: Writing Your Report describes how to avoid common errors, how to use the multi-year statistics from the American Community Survey's rolling sample, and gives you tips on writing reports.

Part V: Descriptive Measures, Common Errors, and Useful References

At the end of each part, exercises are provided so you can test your understanding of important concepts by making decisions and solving problems.