American Community Survey
The American Community Survey is a nationwide monthly survey that will
provide communities with reliable and timely demographic, housing, social,
and economic data every year. It will replace the long-form from the
decennial census of population and housing.
In August of 2005, the first data from the ACS was released. It
included any geographic area that had 250,000 or more people. In the
PTCOG region, only Guilford
County was included in
the first release. In August of 2006, data was released for areas of
65,000 or more people. At this point, the survey size is still rather
small and many data variables have large margins of error. This means
that it is difficult to make any concrete, statistically valid statements
about demographic changes that have occurred since the previous decennial
census. Plus, the primary value of the ACS is not simply in
getting a snapshot view of an area at a particular time. The ACS is
primarily designed to help track trends over time.
The PTCOG regional data center is tracking annual releases of the ACS for
the areas in our region of 65,000 or more (Alamance
County, Davidson
County, Guilford
County, Randolph
County, Rockingham
County, Greensboro,
and High Point).
Because of relatively small sample sizes, we are only able to note
demographic changes in a few select variables with any
certainty. As more data is released, tracking demographic
changes annually will become clearer.
ACS Profiles (in MS Excel format - click to open)
Alamance County,
2005
Davidson County, 2005
Guilford County, 2005,
2004
Randolph County, 2005
Rockingham County,
2005
City of
Greensboro, 2005
City of High Point,
2005
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