When should you use income and poverty estimates from the American Community Survey (ACS) and the Current Population Survey (CPS)?

United States - Use the CPS
For national figures, we recommend using data from the CPS — the source of the official national estimates of poverty as designated by the Office of Management and Budget. It is also the source for widely used estimates of income. Some of the differences between the two sources of data (CPS and ACS) are the length and detail of questions, sample size, geography and reference period.

States - Use the CPS or the ACS
To compare states with each other, we recommend using the ACS. To examine the estimates for a particular state over time, for now we recommend using CPS 2-year moving averages. After additional years of data are collected, the ACS will also be a good source of state-trend estimates.

Local Areas - Use the ACS
The data is available for nearly 7,000 areas, including all congressional districts, and counties, cities and American Indian/Alaska Native areas of 65,000 population or more. (See 2005 ACS Guide for more information.)