ACS-8(X) How Your Responses Help America

How Your Responses Help America
The American Community Survey (ACS) provides vital information that public officials, planners,
and entrepreneurs use to assess the past and plan the future. When you respond to the ACS, you
are doing your part to help your community plan hospitals, support school lunch programs,
improve emergency services, build bridges, and inform businesses looking to add jobs and expand
to new markets, and more. Respond now at respond.census.gov/acs or fill out the questionnaire
today.

What we ask about...

How your responses help...

Employment
The ACS asks whether respondents
are employed, unemployed, and
out of the labor force. It also asks
about weeks and hours worked
and about industry and
occupation.

This information helps government at all levels better
understand unemployment and the availability of
workers, plan unemployment programs and services,
and develop programs to boost employment.
Communities learn which occupations and industries
are growing in their areas and businesses can find
locations with the workforce they need.

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Education
The ACS asks about school
enrollment, gathering information
on America’s students from
nursery school to graduate school
and on whether they are in a
private or public school. It also
asks about educational attainment
—did the respondent earn a high
school diploma or the equivalent,
a bachelor's degree, or higher?

These statistics help communities to measure
how well educational resources are serving their
populations, measure changes in education over
time, evaluate the educational attainment of the
workforce, and identify the educational and
training needs of adults. This information also
helps communities to bridge gaps between the
educational attainment of potential workers and
the educational requirements of potential
employers.

Veterans
The ACS asks about a person’s
military service, where veterans are
moving throughout the country,
their ages, and their VA service
-connected disability rating status
to understand veterans’ needs at
the community level. Though the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
maintains veterans’ records, the
ACS provides additional statistics
about all veterans, regardless of
whether they utilize VA services.

These statistics about veterans help communities
plan for future health care and nursing homes,
plan and fund job training, and improve the
home loan guarantee program. They also benefit
businesses looking to hire or serve veterans.
Hospital

Income and Housing Costs
Bills

The ACS asks several questions
about the money you receive from
various sources and your regular
living expenses such as rents,
mortgages, taxes, and utilities.

The statistics that result from these questions help
gauge the need for economic and housing assistance.
How many people live in poverty, what are their
characteristics—the ACS is the only source of these
data at the community level. Income and poverty
estimates factor into funding requests that address
need. When combined with income, selected monthly
owner costs provide an excellent measure of
affordability and excessive shelter costs.

Grocery Store

Commuting
The ACS asks about your daily
commute—where you go, how
you get there, what time you
leave for work, and how long it
takes—to understand where
people are traveling during a
normal day.

Precise information about your commuting patterns
is crucial to planning improvements to roads and
highways, developing transportation and services,
and creating emergency response strategies.

Disability and
Health Insurance
The ACS asks about a person’s
difficulty with specific daily
living tasks: Do you have
difficulty seeing or hearing?
Do you have difficulty walking
or cimbing stairs or in dressing
or bathing?

Communities use these statistics to plan services
such as transportation, employment programs, and
public service accessibility for people with
disabilities. Businesses that serve this population
may also seek areas that have a high demand for
their services.

The ACS also asks whether people
have health insurance, including
type of health insurance for those
who have health coverage plans.

From these statistics, we learn which groups
are at risk of experiencing limited health care
access, poor health, and poor health outcomes.

Housing Characteristics
The ACS asks questions about
plumbing, kitchen facilities, and
other housing features to help
identify areas with substandard
housing.

Through your ACS responses, we learn about
communities eligible for housing assistance,
rehabilitation loans, and other programs that help
people afford decent, safe, and sanitary housing.

Questions about the size and age
of housing also flag local
problems like overcrowding,
health hazards, and congestion.

Your responses help communities plan
solutions. In places where disaster strikes,
these data are vital in planning recovery.

Owners and Renters
For Sale
For Rent

The ACS asks about whether
you own or rent your home,
and the amount of monthly
rent or how much the home
and property are worth.

These statistics are used to analyze whether
housing is affordable, protect owners and renters,
and allocate and fund assistance programs.
Governments use these statistics to understand
changes in local housing markets, monitor
affordability, qualify for assistance, and reduce the
tax revenue losses from vacant or abandoned
properties. Businesses use these data to design and
market homes, and home goods.

People and Relationships
The ACS asks respondents
about their age, sex, race,
Hispanic origin, and their
relationship to others in the
household.

This information, along with other statistics, is
used to monitor well-being, discrimination, and
economic hardship. Federal agencies use this
information to administer programs providing
funds and services for groups such as single
parents, low-income families, older people living
alone, etc. Businesses use these estimates to
evaluate local market demand for products and
services.

#MeasuringAmerica

ACS-8(X)

(8-2015)