The Census Bureau currently produces 1-year American Community Survey (ACS) estimates for large geographic areas, while only 5-year ACS estimates are available for small geographic areas. However, some data users could benefit from the ability to produce estimates outside of these existing 1-year and 5-year intervals. In particular, the discontinuation of the 3-year ACS data products presents a challenge to data users who need to produce estimates for mid-sized geographic areas and population subgroups.

In this webinar, Alicia VanOrman, Research Associate at the Population Reference Bureau, describes her work to create custom 3-year ACS estimates and associated margins of error by combining single-year data from American FactFinder. Nate Ramsey, Education Research Analyst at the U.S. Department of Education, describes a project in which he created custom multiyear PUMS files by combining single-year files. David Hubble, Senior Statistician at Westat, serves as the discussant, describing the pros and cons of the different approaches and how the Census Bureau could help data users create their own multiyear estimates. Their presentations are followed by 10 minutes of Q&A.

An archived recording of this webinar is available online.