Hi all, I am working with the 2009-2013 ACS 5-year estimates detailed tables, and have a general question about comparing ACS data at different geographic levels. I have downloaded ACS data at both the census tract and the ZCTA levels. Does anyone know whether the same raw data is used for all of ACS's geographic levels (i.e. whether I should expect the ZCTA and census tract ACS data to be "equivalent"), or if the data from these two geographic levels draw from different samples? I am primarily asking because I am planning to crosswalk both of these datasets to the 5-digit ZIP code level, and would like to know what to expect when comparing the resulting numbers to each other.
The ACS "raw" data, i.e. the survey form answers, is based on something called the Master Address File, which contains geocoded data for each structure in the US. You can look up an address in…
Yes. the tract level estimates and ZCTA level estimates are derived from the same underlying sample.
I don't believe ZCTAs cover the entire country.It's definitely not based on the respondents' ZIP; ZCTAs are explicitly different than mailing zip codes, based on coordinate location, not address.…
Thank you, Matthew!