The American Community Survey (ACS) is an ongoing survey that provides data every year -- giving communities the current information they need to plan investments and services. The ACS covers a broad range of topics about social, economic, demographic, and housing characteristics of the U.S. population. Much of the ACS data provided on the Census Bureau's Web site are available separately by age group, race, Hispanic origin, and sex.

Detailed Tables, Subject Tables, Data Profiles, Comparison Profiles and Selected Population Profiles are available for the nation, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, every congressional district, every metropolitan area, and all counties and places with populations of 65,000 or more.

Detailed Tables contain the most detailed cross-tabulations published for areas 65k and more. The data are population counts. There are over 31,000 variables in this dataset.
Subject tables provide an overview of the estimates available in a particular topic. The data are presented as population counts and percentages. There are over 16,000 variables in this dataset.
Data profiles contain broad social, economic, housing, and demographic information. The data are presented as population counts and percentages. There are over 1,000 variables in this dataset.
Comparison profiles are similar to data profiles but also include comparisons with past-year data. The current year data are compared with each of the last four years of data and include statistical significance testing. There are over 1,000 variables in this dataset.
Selected Population Profiles provide broad social, economic, and housing profiles for a large number of race, ethnic, ancestry, and country/region of birth groups. The data are presented as population counts for the total population and various subgroups and percentages.

For more information about the data available in the ACS, please visit its data users page.

2021

Variable Changes

Variables, and the values they represent, may change over time. Use this 2021 1YR API Changes document as a guide for which variables have changed from the prior year for 2021 ACS 1-Year Detailed Tables, Data Profiles and Subject Tables. See below for a description of each change type.

No Change - The variable has not changed from the prior year (most variables).
Updated - That variable has changed from the prior year and a matching variable for the current year has been found.
No Match - The variable has changed from the prior year and no matching or comparable variable has been found.

For table changes, check the ACS product changes webpage for source table changes.

2021 Table & Geography Changes

Learn more about changes to tables and geography for each American Community Survey data release.

Annotation Variables

In September 2016, ACS released annotation variables that return character representations of each estimate. Many annotations return as null. However, if an annotation variable returns a value, it provides important information about the estimate or margin of error. For example, if an estimate variable (variable ending in “E”) returns “-888888888”, the annotation variable will return “(X)”. Looking at the Notes on ACS Estimate and Annotation Values, this means the estimate is not applicable or not available. For a complete list of return values and their annotations, see:

Related Information

Notes on ACS Estimate and Annotation Values