How are American Community Survey (ACS) tables identified? For example, what do the letters and numbers in a table like B06004A-PR mean?

American Community Survey tables are identified by Table IDs, Which consist of up to five elements:

• Element 1: Identifies the table type (Examples: B – Base Table, S – Subject Table, etc.).
• Element 2: Two characters identifying the subject of the table (Examples: 01 – Age; Sex, 02 – Race, etc.).
• Element 3: Two or three digits in sequential order identifying the table number within a subject (Example: 001, 002, etc.).
• Element 4: For selected tables, alphabetical suffix indicating the race iteration of the table (Example: A – White Alone, B – Black or African American Alone, etc.).
• Element 5: For selected tables, alphabetical suffix indicating if the table is for Puerto Rico geographies only (Example: PR).

For example: B06004APR is a Detailed Table on the subject Place of Birth, and it is the fourth table within the subject identifying the race iteration White Alone for Puerto Rico geographies only.

B06004A is the comparable United States geography table with the same Table ID, but without the ending “PR”.

Learn more by visiting the Table IDs Explained page.