The American community survey

Population Bulletin

Volumn 60, Issue 3, 2005, Pages

  Mather, Mark ^a   Rivers, Kerri L ^a   Jacobsen, Linda A ^a  

^a Population Reference Bureau   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DEMOGRAPHIC SURVEY;

NORTH AMERICA; UNITED STATES; WESTERN HEMISPHERE; WORLD;

EID: 26844489016     PISSN: 0032468X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (74)

1. Charles Louis Kincannon, "Halfway to the 2010 Census: The Countdown and Components to a Successful Decennial Census" (presentation to the House Subcommittee on Federalism and the Census, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC, April 19, 2005), accessed online at http://reform.house.gov/ UploadedFiles/kincannonweb.pdf, on July 19, 2005.
2. The 1940 and 1950 censuses also included questions asked of a sample of all people, but the modern short form and long form questionnaires were first used in 1960. U.S. Census Bureau, 200 Years of U.S. Census Taking: Population and Housing Questions, 1790-1990 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1989).
3. . The ACS did not include people living in group quarters, which users need to consider when comparing 2000 Census and the ACS (C2SS) estimates. C2SS results may be viewed on the Census Bureau website.
4. Kathleen B. Cooper, "Halfway to the 2010 Census: The Countdown and Components to a Successful Decennial Census" (presentation to the House Subcommittee on Federalism and the Census, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC, April 19, 2005), accessed online at http://reform.house.gov/ UploadedFiles/cooperweb.pdf, on July 19, 2005.
5. For more information, see Leslie Kish, "Rolling Samples and Censuses," Survey Methodology 16, no. 1 (1990): 63-79.
6. Because the ACS has lower item nonresponse rates, ACS estimates are less likely than decennial census estimates to include data derived from allocation. Allocation is a statistical procedure that imputes the responses for blank questionnaire items based on responses from neighbors or other household members. See U.S. Census Bureau, "Using the Data: Quality Measures," accessed online at www.census.gov/acs, on Sept. 7, 2005.
7. The follow-up phase for the census is attempted for all households that did not respond by mail.
8. U.S. Census Bureau, "Report 5: Comparing Economic Characteristics With Census 2000," Meeting 21st Century Demographic Data Needs - Implementing the American Community Survey (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2004), accessed online at www.census.gov/acs, on July 19, 2005.
9. Scott Boggess and Nikki L. Graf, "Measuring Education: A Comparison of the Decennial Census and the American Community Survey" (presented at the 2003 Joint Statistical Meetings, San Francisco, 2003), accessed online at www.census.gov, on July 19, 2005.
10. See, for example, U.S. Census Bureau, "The American Community Survey 1999-2001 and Census 2000 Comparison Study," accessed online at www.census.gov/acs, on July 29, 2005.
11. John Long, "Focusing Upon the Opportunities and Challenges of Using ACS Data as a Substitute for the Long-Form Census Data Many Consumers Expect" (paper presented at the Annual Meetings of the Population Association of America, Philadelphia, March 31, 2005).
12. David Swanson and George Hough, "An Evaluation of the American Community Survey: Preliminary Results From a County Level Analysis of the Oregon Test Site" (presented at the 68th Annual Meeting of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences, Biloxi, MS, Feb. 19-20, 2004), accessed online at www.olemiss.edu/depts/population_studies/WorkingPapers.html, on July 19, 2005.
13. Personal communication with ACS staff.
14. Files may be downloaded at www.census.gov/acs.
15. Long, "Focusing Upon the Opportunities and Challenges of Using ACS Data."
16. Joseph J. Salvo, "Making It in the Bronx: First the Yankees, Next the ACS? Analysis of Nonresponse in the Bronx Test Site" (2003);
17. and Susan P. Love, "Making It in the Bronx: A Supplement" (2003), accessed online at www.census.gov/acs/www/AdvMeth/Papers/Papers43_intro. html, on July 19, 2005.
18. Charles H. Alexander, "American Community Survey Data for Economic Analysis" (presentation to the Census Advisory Committee Meeting of the American Economic Association, Washington, DC, October 18-19, 2001), accessed online at www.census.gov/acs, on July 19, 2005.
19. David McMillen, "Focusing Upon How the ACS is Viewed on Capitol Hill and Opportunities for Continued Support From Congress" (paper presented at the Annual Meetings of the Population Association of America, Philadelphia, March 31-April 3, 2005).
20. Jim Moore, "Focusing Upon How the ACS is Viewed on Capitol Hill" (paper presented at the Annual Meetings of the Population Association of America, Philadelphia, March 31-April 3, 2005).
21. McMillen, "Focusing Upon How the ACS is Viewed on Capitol Hill."
22. Linda Cage, "Eliminating the 2010 Census Long Form? - Current Status of the American Community Survey" (presentation for the Annual Meetings of the Population Association of America, Atlanta, May 9, 2002), accessed online at ww.dof.ca.gov/HTML/DEMOGRAP/ACS_PAA_Presentation.pdf, on July 19, 2005.
23. U.S. Census Bureau, "U.S. Census Bureau Guidance on Using 2003 Income and Poverty Estimates From the Current Population Survey and American Community Survey," accessed online at www.census.gov/acs, on July 19, 2005.
24. U.S. General Accountability Office (GAO), The American Community Survey: Accuracy and Timeliness (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 2002), accessed online at www.gao.gov/new.items/d02956r.pdf, on July 19, 2005.
25. ORC Macro, "The American Community Survey: Challenges and Opportunities for HUD," accessed online at www.huduser.org/Publications/ pdf/ACS_FINAL_REPORT.pdf, on July 31, 2005.
26. GAO, American Community Survey: Key Issues Unresolved (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 2004): 4, accessed online at www.gao.gov/new.items/ d0582.pdf, on July 19, 2005.
27. Charles H. Alexander, "A Discussion of the Quality of Estimates from the American Community Survey for Small Population Groups" (draft prepared for discussion at the Fall 2002 Census Advisory Committees Meetings, Washington, DC, 2002), accessed online at www.census.gov/acs, on July 19, 2005.
28. U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey, Population: Questions on Income, P-41-42," accessed online at www.census.gov/acs, on July 19, 2005.
29. Prior to 2003, the ASEC was called the Annual Demographic Survey and is still commonly referred to as the "March Supplement."
30. U.S. Census Bureau, "Guidance on Differences in Income and Poverty Estimates From Different Sources," accessed online at www.census.gov, on July 19, 2005.
31. U.S. Census Bureau, "Advanced Methodology: Data Collecting & Processing," accessed online at www.census.gov/acs, on July 19, 2005.
32. Poverty status is determined for all individuals except those who are under age 15 and not related to anyone in the household, and individuals who are living in institutions, military group quarters, and college dormitories.
33. U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey: Subject Definitions - Poverty Status," accessed online at www.census.gov/acs, on July 19, 2005.
34. "Income" is the sum of the amounts reported for wage or salary income; net self-employment income; interest, dividends, net rental income, royalty income, and income from estates and trusts; Social Security or Railroad Retirement income; Supplemental Security Income; public assistance or welfare payments; retirement or disability income; and all other sources.
35. U.S. Census Bureau, "Report 9: Comparing Social Characteristics With Census 2000," Meeting 21st Century Demographic Data Needs - Implementing the American Community Survey (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 2004), accessed online at www.census.gov/acs, on July 19, 2005.
36. U.S. Census Bureau, "The Hispanic Population," Census 2000 Brief (Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau, May 2001): table 2, accessed online at www.census.gov, on May 12, 2005.
37. The Census Bureau underestimated the U.S. population in 2000 by approximately 7 million people, in part because it had underestimated levels of international migration.
38. Joseph M. Costanzo, Cynthia J. Davis, and Nolan Malone, "Guide to International Migration Statistics: The Sources, Collection, and Processing of Foreign-Born Population Data at the U.S. Census Bureau," Population Division Working Paper Series, No. 68 (Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau, 2002), accessed online at www.census.gov, on July 19, 2005.
39. U.S. Census Bureau, "Ranking Tables: 2003 - Percent of Population That is Foreign-Born" (2004), accessed online at www.census.gov/acs, on July 19, 2005.
40. People not reporting a place of birth in the ACS were assigned the state or country of birth of another family member, or were allocated the response of another individual with similar characteristics. People born outside the United States were asked to report their place of birth according to current international boundaries. Since numerous changes in boundaries of foreign countries have occurred in the last century, some people may have reported their place of birth in terms of boundaries that existed at the time of their birth or emigration, or in accordance with their own national preference.
41. A linguistically isolated household is one in which all adults (high school age and older) have some limitation communicating in English. A house-hold is classified as "linguistically isolated" if no household members age 14 years or older speak only English, and no household members age 14 years or older who speak a language other than English speak English "very well." All members of a linguistically isolated household are tabulated as linguistically isolated, including members under 14 years old who may speak only English.
42. David A. Raglin, Theresa F. Leslie, and Deborah H. Griffin, "Comparing Social Characteristics Between Census 2000 and the American Community Survey" (paper presented at the 2003 American Statistical Association Conference, San Francisco, Aug. 3-7, 2003), accessed online at www.census.gov/acs, on July 19, 2005.
43. Data on parental nativity are available for children who reside with their parents through the ACS Public Use Microdata Sample.
44. Migration Policy Institute (MPI) Staff, "Data Sources on the Foreign Born and International Migration at the U.S. Census Bureau," Migration Information Source (Washington, DC: MPI, 2003), accessed online at www.migrationinformation.org, on July 19, 2005.
45. Kevin Deardorff, "A Profile of the U.S. Foreign-Born Population" (presentation to the Population Research Center, Dec. 9, 2003), accessed online at www.census.gov/mso/www/pres_lib/ForeignBornProfile/ fbprofile.ppt, on July 19, 2005.
46. U.S. Census Bureau, "Table 1. General Mobility, by Region, Sex, and Age: 2003," Current Population Survey, 2003 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (Mar. 23, 2004, release), accessed online at www.census.gov, on July 19, 2005.
47. Jeffrey S. Passel, "Estimates of the Size and Characteristics of the Undocumented Population" (Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center, 2005): table 1, accessed online at www.pewhispanic.org, on May 16, 2005.
48. Statistics Canada, "Measuring Emigration Through Survey Data: The American Community Survey as a Case Study for Canada," Working Paper, No. 10 (presented at the UNECE/Eurostat Seminar on Migration Statistics, Geneva, March 21-23, 2005), accessed online at www.unece.org/stats/documents/2005/03/ migration/wp.10.e.pdf, on July 19, 2005.
49. U.S. Census Bureau, "Report 4: Comparing General Demographic and Housing Characteristics With Census 2000," Meeting 21st Century Demographic Data Needs - Implementing the American Community Survey (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2004), accessed online at www2.census.gov/acs/ downloads/Report04.pdf, on July 19, 2005.
50. U.S. Census Bureau, "Comparison Profile for Sevier County, TN," ACS 1999-2001 and Census 2000 Comparison Study (2004): table 1, accessed online at www.census.gov/acs, on July 19, 2005.
51. U.S. Census Bureau, "Report 4: Comparing General Demographic and Housing Characteristics With Census 2000."
52. U.S. Census Bureau, "Comparison Profile Oneida County, WI," ACS 1999-2001 and Census 2000 Comparison Study (2004): table 1, accessed online at www.census.gov/acs, on July 19, 2005.
53. U.S. Census Bureau, "ACS: 2003 Multi-Year Profile for United States," accessed online at www.census.gov/acs, on July 19, 2005.
54. Racial and ethnic categories used in this analysis include non-Hispanic, white (alone); black or African American (alone); and Hispanic. People of Hispanic origin may be of any race.
55. U.S. Census Bureau, American FactFinder website, http://factfinder. census.gov.
56. U.S. Census Bureau, "Median Housing Values Continue to Rise, Census Bureau Reports: Percentage of Million-Dollar Homes Nearly Doubles Since 2000," U.S. Census Bureau News (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2005), accessed online at www.census.gov, on July 19, 2005.
57. Housing values for cities were not adjusted for inflation.
58. Data on housing costs as a percentage of income exclude households reporting no income or a net loss.
59. U.S. Census Bureau, American FactFinder.
60. Robert W. Burchell et al., Costs of Sprawl - 2000 (Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2002), accessed online at http://gulliver.trb.org, on July 1, 2003.
61. U.S. Census Bureau, "Ranking Tables: 2003 - Average Travel Time to Work of Workers 16 Years and Over Who Did Not Work at Home," accessed online at www.census.gov/acs, on July 19, 2005.
62. Housing Assistance Council, "Rural Rental Housing Supply," accessed online at www.ruralhome.org/info.php, on Oct. 1, 2003.
63. For each unit, rooms include living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens, bedrooms, finished recreation rooms, enclosed porches suitable for year-round use, and lodgers' rooms.
64. The C2SS results show a considerably lower proportion of occupied units with more than one occupant per room than does the Census 2000 sample. See U.S. Census Bureau, "Report 10: Comparing Selected Physical and Financial Characteristics of Housing with the Census 2000," Meeting 21st Century Demographic Data Needs - Implementing the American Community Survey (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2004), accessed online at www.census.gov/acs, on July 19, 2005.
65. U.S. Census Bureau, "America's Families and Living Arrangements: 2003," Current Population Reports P20-553 (September 2004): table HH-1, accessed online at www.census.gov, on July 19, 2005.
66. U.S. Census Bureau, "America's Families and Living Arrangements: 2003": table FM-1, accessed online at www.census.gov, on July 19, 2005.
67. ACS data on family structure are derived primarily from the ACS question on the relationship of each person to the householder, Based on respondents' answers to this question, the Census Bureau classifies all households into two types: family households and nonfamily house-holds. A family household consists of the householder (typically the person in whose name the home is owned or rented) and one or more individuals related to him or her by birth, marriage (a stepchild, for example), or adoption. A nonfamily household consists of a householder living alone or with nonrelatives only (for example, a foster child, housemate, or unmarried partner).
68. The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2005 KIDS COUNT Data Book (Baltimore: Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2005).
69. The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2005 KIDS COUNT Data Book: 38.
70. The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2003 KIDS COUNT Data Book (Baltimore: Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2003).
71. William V. D'Antonio, "Walking the Walk on Family Values," The Boston Globe, Oct. 31, 2004.
72. Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, "Summary of Working Group Recommendations" (proceedings from Counting Couples: Improving Marriage, Divorce, Remarriage, and Cohabitation Data in the Federal Statistical System, Bethesda, MD, Dec. 13-14, 2001), accessed online at www.childstats.gov/pubs.asp, on July 19, 2005.
73. Public Use data files would be required to analyze these results. See Jane Lawler Dye and Tavia Simmons, "Measuring Fertility Using the American Community Survey" (paper presented at Annual Meetings of the Population Association of America, Washington, DC, March 29-31, 2001), accessed online at www.census.gov/acs, on July 19, 2005.
74. Nancy M. Gordon, "The American Community Survey: Full Implementation" (presentation at the IAOS Satellite Meeting, Wellington, New Zealand, April 15, 2005).