ACS data download at zip code level

Assuming you already know which table(s) you want, you can get ZCTA (ZIP Code Tabulation Areas) for 2016 5 year ACS by
going to Factfinder.Census.gov,
clicking on "advanced search",
then "show me all",
then click "Geographies" on the left side,
select "5 Digit ZIP Code Tabulation Area- 860" (ZCTA) (ignore that fact that "5 digit ZIP code" is an option, as it is not available for ACS and therefore won't give you any options to select ACS data if you choose it),
then select "ALL 5 Digit ZIP Code Tabulation Areas in the United States and Puerto Rico",
click the "Add to your selections" button,
click close (for the geographic selection window).

You will then see ALL the tables available, and you can filter these by entering a "topic or table name".

I would suggest that you play around using a smaller set of ZCTAs (like all within a county or a smaller state) before you try downloading ALL of them, just so you can explore the file download options and make sure you can open it and get what you expect in the program you are going to read it into. All or which will be less unwieldy with a smaller data set.

Hi Peter,

I am very new to ACS. I followed your way to download the zip code level data from 2011-2017. Do you have any idea where I could download the summary data at the zip code tabulation level for 2004-2010? Thank you very much!

Hi Peter,

I am very new to ACS. I followed your way to download the zip code level data from 2011-2017. Do you have any idea where I could download the summary data at the zip code tabulation level for 2004-2010? Thank you very much!