Gothos

There are some big US Census data updates coming up. Thought I’d offer a summary:

• 2009 Annual American Community Survey (ACS): released in Sept, data for geographies that have at least 65k people.
• 2005-2009 5 Year ACS: to be released in Dec 2010, this will be the first release of five year estimate data, which goes down to the census tract level on the American Factfinder, and to block groups via downloadable summary files. From this point forward we’ll have annually updated data for small areas like tracts
• First 2010 Decennial Census numbers: state population counts will be released before Dec 31st. The 2010 Census figures will be rolled out over a three year period. This is the first decennial census in many decades that will consist only of 100% count short-form questions that cover basic demographic variables. For anything else we’ll have to turn to the ACS.
• 2007-2009 3 Year ACS: to be released in Jan 2011 for all geographies that have at least 20k people.

For more details you can check out the official release schedules for the 2010 Census and the ACS. This helpful comparison table guides you in deciding whether to use the 1 year, 3 year, or 5 year estimates for your particular needs.