The American Community Survey (ACS) asks respondents about their primary workplace location. When information about workers’ residence location and workplace location are coupled, a commuting flow is generated. The origin-destination flow format informs our understanding of interconnectedness between communities, including the interchange of people, goods, and services. Commuting flows also help shape the contours of metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas. Commuting flow estimates are not included among standard annual ACS products, but they are created for other research and product development purposes. For example, flows are created to support the delineation of the nation’s metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas, which are used by Federal statistical agencies in collecting, tabulating, and publishing Federal statistics.

Metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas are geographic entities used by Federal statistical agencies in collecting, tabulating, and publishing Federal statistics. To support the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB's) metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area delineations and updates, the Census Bureau produces commuting flow tables every five years, using non-overlapping 5-year ACS estimates beginning with the ACS 2006-2010 data. Prior to the ACS, commuting flows were derived from decennial Census information. Other commuting flows products are occasionally produced in conjunction with special projects during interim years. This page serves as a repository for commuting flow data products, going back to 1990.