American Community Survey Enhances Rural Research
John
Cromartie
The American Community Survey (ACS), a new
nationwide household survey produced by the U.S.
Census Bureau, will significantly enhance researchers’
and policymakers’ knowledge about rural communities.
Whereas the decennial census collects data every
10 years, the ACS collects monthly samples to produce
data on age, race, education, income, migration,
commuting, housing, and other socioeconomic characteristics.
ACS data for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan populations
are now available by State for 2005, and, as additional
data are collected, more detailed information will
be released in the years ahead.
ACS findings confirm the demographic
portrait of rural and small-town America as captured
in decennial census data—slightly older, less
educated, and poorer than the metropolitan population.
Beginning in 2008, data averaged over multiple years
will provide even more detailed information about
the Nation’s small towns and rural areas.
For instance, current data reveal that, for the
U.S. as a whole, 3.4 percent of the residents in
nonmetro areas are foreign born, compared with 14.2
percent in metro areas. Multiple-year averages will
reveal the concentration of immigrant settlement
in selected rural communities and its uneven socioeconomic
impact.
The ACS will be an important resource
for rural researchers and policymakers who currently
rely heavily on data collected in the long-form
questionnaire of the decennial census. Whereas the
short form counts the entire U.S. population, the
long form gathers detailed social and economic information
from a sample of U.S. households. Information derived
from the long form is used to administer Federal
programs, allocate billions of dollars of Federal
tax revenues, and support critical State and local
decisionmaking, but the data quickly become outdated.
The ACS replaces the decennial long form and provides
roughly the same data every year instead of once
in 10 years.
The switch to the continuous measurement
approach of the ACS poses a number of challenges
for users. First, most census items use April 1
of the census year as the reference period; ACS
produces annual averages of data collected throughout
the year. Second, demographic trends consisting
of multiyear, moving averages may be difficult to
interpret, especially in areas undergoing rapid
change. Third, the ACS includes questions that are
similar to those found on other Federal surveys,
such as the Current Population Survey (CPS), which
will still be the basis of official estimates of
poverty, income, and the number of people with health
insurance coverage. The CPS provides greater detail
on the sources of household income than the ACS;
however, it is a much smaller survey and does not
provide reliable estimates below the State level.
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