Hello ACS Data Community,
I recently stumbled upon a perplexing issue in the 2022 ACS 5-year estimates that I believe warrants discussion. According to the official enrollment statistics provided by BYU-Idaho (byui.edu/executive-strategy-and-planning/institutional-data/official-enrollment-statistics), the ratio of male to female students is roughly balanced, hovering around a 1:1 ratio.
https://www.byui.edu/executive-strategy-and-planning/institutional-data/official-enrollment-statistics
However, this seems to be in stark contrast with the ACS 2022 5-year estimates for the Rexburg, ID Micro Area, specifically in the S12002 table.
https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2022.B12002?q=B12002:%20Sex%20by%20Marital%20Status%20by%20Age%20for%20the%20Population%2015%20Years%20and%20Over&g=310XX00US39940
The ACS data indicates a surplus of 5643 never married women in the area, which seems implausible given the university's gender ratio. This discrepancy raises serious concerns about the accuracy of the ACS estimates. Could this be a methodological error or a misinterpretation of the data?
I reached out to the ACS team regarding this issue, but they firmly denied any error in their data. This response is a bit disconcerting as it challenges our understanding of the demographic dynamics in university-centric areas like Rexburg. I'm curious to hear your thoughts and experiences regarding similar discrepancies in ACS data, especially in areas with significant young adult populations.
How do we reconcile such stark differences in data from reliable sources? Are there any methodological nuances of the ACS estimates that might explain this discrepancy? I look forward to a vibrant discussion on this issue.
On the one hand, your experience shouldn't count for nothing, you're on the ground and that gives you insight that can't be gained through a survey. On the other hand, you only know what you know, and…
Aefcmj, I need to further affirm your suspicions. The discrepancy seems to be centered around the BYUI campus, which in the 2018-2021 data was 5% male.Even stranger, looking at the 2013-2017 data, it was…
I pulled up the College enrollment in the Rexberg Micropolitan area and I include it here. It does show the typical gap between men and women enrolled.
From a quick look at data on the area, there was…
Interesting. The Rexburg, ID Micropolitan Area seems to be all of Fremont and Madison counties (https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/economic-census/2007/reference-maps/id/metro/2007-us39940m-rexburg-id-micropolitan-statistical-area.pdf), so I'm guessing that there are other residents there who are not part of the university.
It might also be worth looking at some of the school enrollment tables (any that start with B14), for example, B14002 actually lists people enrolled in college undergraduate years by sex. One thing to note though is that ACS only captures yes/no on school enrollment, not on any particular institution. So this would also include people who are enrolled in any other institutions who live in the micropolitan area (community colleges, other universities, and could even be online programs).
First of all, at the time of the 2022 survey, I was living in Rexburg. I remember that the ratio of never married men to women at that time was definitely more men than women, about 51% of them were men.
Secondly, although there are other schools in the area, they are less than one percent of BYUI, so they can be ignored. datausa.io/.../rexburg-id-31000US39940
The Data USA source you cited says,
In 2021, universities in Rexburg, ID awarded 7,838 degrees. The student population of Rexburg, ID in 2021 is skewed towards women, with 19,390 male students and 25,242 female students.
That seems consistent with the ACS estimate in your first post.
I mean on campus's not online one.