U.S. Census & Demographics: Home
Getting Started
The ACS is a nationwide survey conducted for the purpose of producing a socio-demographic description of the population. The survey is conducted on a continuous basis with reports being released annually.
- are based on a survey conducted over a stretch of time rather than on a point in time
- with care can be compared to point-in-time data like Decennial Census data
- when comparing a period estimate to another period estimate:
only compare estimates with the same time span length and no overlapping years.
The Current Population Survey (CPS) is a monthly survey of about 50,000 households which has been conducted annually for over 50 years. General information about the survey can be found at the Census Bureau's CPS website or ICPSR CPS webpage.The components of the survey are:
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Basic Monthly Survey |
CPS Supplements |
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Done on behalf of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, contains data on employment, unemployment and the labor force with only limited socio-demographic detail. |
Topic-specific surveys done annually or less frequently to gather demographic and socio-economic data; the most notable the Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) |