U.S. Census Bureau Releases 2021 American Community Survey (ACS) 1-Year Estimates

We are pleased to announce the release of the 2021 American Community Survey (ACS) 1-year estimates, the most relied-on source for up-to-date social, economic, and housing information every year. The ACS is the only source of local statistics for most of the 40+ topics it covers, such as educational attainment, occupation, language spoken at home, ancestry, and selected monthly homeowner costs.

ACS 1-year estimates 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. To find out if these estimates are available for your county or city, please consult our Reference Materials.

Today's release includes Data Profiles, Detailed Tables, Comparison Profiles, Subject Tables, Selected Population Profiles, and the Summary File. Learn more in the 2021 Data Release Schedule.

Visit the U.S. Census Bureau's data.census.gov or use the Census API to start exploring these estimates. Please note that data.census.gov and the current release work best in Google Chrome. To learn more, see our data.census.gov resources page which provides Frequently Asked Questions, How-to Materials for Using data.census.gov, Video Tutorials, Webinars and more. For additional information, visit the links below:

  • Pre-Release Webinar: View a recorded webinar highlighting important changes for the 2021 ACS 1-year release and a demonstration on how to access the data in data.census.gov.
  • 2021 Changes: Visit our 2021 Data Release page to learn about table and geography changes, and the 2021 Comparison Guidance page to learn how these estimates compare to previous ACS estimates, the 2010 Census and the 2020 Census.
  • 2021 Summary File: Download all of the ACS Detailed Tables via the Summary File on the FTP. Instructions and other technical information are available also available on the Summary File page.
  • Guidance for Data Users: Learn more about the types of data tables and data tools available and get guidance about when to use 1-year and 5-year estimates.
Parents
  • Can anyone explain why some data is available on data.census.gov but not in the summary files? 

    For example, Table B06007 (Place Of Birth By Language Spoken At Home And Ability To Speak English In The United States). It appears to be available on data.census.gov for all 1-year geos, including states and counties > 65000. However, in the Appendices, it says that B06007 has a geographic restriction of "US Only". Moreover, in the sequence files. the positions for B06007 are not populated for any geography, including the nation.

    I see a similar issue with B07204, Geographical Mobility In The Past Year For Current Residence--State, County And Place Level In The United States. 

    There may be other tables with this problem. Where can I get complete data if the summary files don't have it?

  • Glenn, I'm new to ACS, but I have noticed a few counties have no data for some fields, but when I look it up elsewhere, I find it, such as some race items in Webb county in TX. Table B01001H for example. It really sucks that the key links are county names as some tables, spell them differently, which I assumed would not happen. Perhaps this group could have a validation day after a major release where people go to town on the data and any issues can be verified by the group and sent on. Ideally with a Census staff person working with the group. If we prove our worth, maybe we can do the same a month or so "before" the release (with NDA etc.).

Reply
  • Glenn, I'm new to ACS, but I have noticed a few counties have no data for some fields, but when I look it up elsewhere, I find it, such as some race items in Webb county in TX. Table B01001H for example. It really sucks that the key links are county names as some tables, spell them differently, which I assumed would not happen. Perhaps this group could have a validation day after a major release where people go to town on the data and any issues can be verified by the group and sent on. Ideally with a Census staff person working with the group. If we prove our worth, maybe we can do the same a month or so "before" the release (with NDA etc.).

Children
  • Also, confused about population est for (Liberty County, Georgia, Onslow County, North Carolina, Monroe County, Indiana, Hampshire County, Massachusetts). Again I'm new but seeing more than 10% diff in total Pop in diff tables.