American Community Survey

Esri provides the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) data for the United States and Puerto Rico. ACS uses a continuous measurement, or rolling, sample, in which a small percentage of the population is sampled every month. The ACS is updated and released more frequently than the decennial census—every year instead of every 10 years. Smaller sample sizes and variable collection times have introduced a margin of error into their estimates.

See Understanding margin of error for more information.

ACS data categories provided by Esri include the following:

  • Population—Total Population, Language Spoken, Health Insurance
  • Age by gender
  • Race and Ethnicity
  • School—School Enrollment, Educational Attainment
  • Work—Labor Force, Travel Time, Means of Transportation to Work, Class of Worker, Veteran Status
  • Income—Total Income, Income by Age, Poverty Status, Public Assistance Income
  • Households—Total Households, Length of tenure, Rent, Vehicles Available, Mortgage Status, Computer/Internet Service, By type, size, and age
  • Housing—Total Housing Units, Number of Units in Structure, Heating Fuel, Year Built

Vintage

ACS 2021

2017–2021

Update frequency

Data is updated annually.

Additional ACS demographics are available in ready-to-use demographic maps. These hosted feature layers are updated annually to reflect the most current data values and geographical boundaries for state, county, and census tract geographies.

For more information, see the Data availability section below, and visit the ACS Hosted Feature Layer FAQ.

Methodology

Esri uses the following methodology: 2017-2021 American Community Survey Esri Methodology Statement.

Sample reports

The following sample ACS reports are available:

For more information about reports and the products that contain them, visit ArcGIS Apps.

For information about the number of credits needed to run reports, see Credits by capability.

Release notes

View the release notes for Esri's ACS demographics data in the Esri 2023 U.S. Demographics Release Notes (PDF).

Variable lists

For ACS variable lists for the United States, see the data catalogs:

The following ACS variable lists are available for Puerto Rico:

Other resources

The Puerto Rico ACS June 2023 release notes (PDF) and Puerto Rico ACS February 2023 release notes (PDF) are also available.