Esri provides an American Community Survey (ACS) advanced demographics dataset for Puerto Rico and the United States sourced from data supplied by the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey. Visit Where to find Esri Location Data to learn more about using advanced demographics.
The U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey uses a continuous measurement—or rolling sample—in which a small percentage of the population is sampled every month.
Tip:
The American Community Survey advanced demographics dataset is updated and released every year. Smaller sample sizes and variable collection times have introduced a margin of error into the estimates. See the margins of error content in the related links or the Attribute summaries in the Census Bureau's American Community Survey topic for more information.
Release date
The American Community Survey dataset was updated in June 2024; the vintage is 2022 (rolling estimates 2018-2022).
Understanding suppression
The American Community Survey dataset is derived from a sample of housing units. Estimates are provided along with margins of error to assess estimate quality. Some values for medians and aggregates will be reported as missing by the Census Bureau due to their suppression rules. Averages are computed from aggregates. If an aggregate value is missing, averages cannot be determined. When this occurs, Esri displays the variable's value as N/A (not applicable). This applies to not only standard and nonstandard geographic areas, but also to any user-defined polygons such as rings and drive times when one or more component block groups include a missing value for a variable.
Sample questions and use cases
Esri's American Community Survey dataset can be used to answer questions about a community's demographics and keep citizens, businesses, and officials informed about the changing nature of the local population. American Community Survey data is useful to local and regional planning departments, businesses, researchers, civic and academic institutions, industry leaders, and local businesses.
Sample questions that can be answered using American Community Survey data may include the following:
- Where are the regions with the highest and lowest income distribution?
- Are there areas in this community with lower high school graduation rates?
- Where are communities in this region with the highest concentration of population who speak a language other than English at home?
Example use cases for American Community Survey data include the following:
 | Commuting patterns—Population categorized by commute type and distances can be used by local and regional businesses, community leaders, and local officials to analyze how people commute to work within a certain area. This data can also be used by regional planning departments to evaluate local or regional public transit needs based on population distribution and commuting patterns across different areas. |
 | Language spoken at home—Population categorized by languages spoken at home can help government agencies and service providers understand the needs of multicultural communities, informing policy decisions and resource allocation. This data helps providers and agencies address the needs of different linguistic groups and tailor services accordingly, for example, by providing translated materials, community outreach programs, and language support in healthcare and education settings. |
Related links
Refer to the following content:
- 2018–2022 ACS Esri Methodology Statement (ArcGIS StoryMaps - revised Nov 2024); a PDF is also available.
- Demographic map layers
Note:
Additional ACS demographics are available in ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World. 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, visit the American Community Survey (ACS) Hosted Feature Layers FAQ.
- Puerto Rico—refer to the following content for Puerto Rico:
- United States—refer to the following content for the United States:
Margins of error tutorial series
Learn about American Community Survey margins of error and how to use them in your maps in the Mapping with margins of error ArcGIS StoryMaps tutorial series. The following tutorials are available in the series:
- The importance of margins of error and mapping
- Effective ways to communicate margins of error through pop-ups
- Explore labeling to convey margins of error
- A straightforward approach to mapping margins of error
- Show significant differences between two ACS estimates
- Best practices for mapping numeric ranges or data with uncertainty
- How aggregation resolves reliability concerns for American Community Survey data
Note:
- For information about reports, see Esri Reports.
- For information about purchasing Esri datasets as stand-alone content, contact datasales@esri.com.
- For information about the number of credits needed to run reports, see the Credits by capability topic or the ArcGIS Location Platform Pricing topic (scroll to Business Search, Infographics, and Reports).