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.
States - Use the ACS
To compare states with each other, we recommend using the ACS. To examine changes
between 2005 and 2006, use the ACS (though not all estimates are directly comparable
because of the addition of group quarters into the 2006 ACS sample). The CPS
has value as a means of examining historical trends by state. 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.
Local Areas - Use the ACS
The data are 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.
| Area Comparison | CPS | ACS |
|---|---|---|
| United States | X | |
| State | X - use for historical trend analysis |
X |
| United States with state | X | |
| United States with state/metropolitan area/county/place |
X | |
| State with metropolitan area/county/place |
X | |
| American Indian/Alaska native areas | X | |
| Congressional districts | X | |
| Metropolitan area with county/place |
X | |
| County with place | X | |
| Places (cities) | X |
