The US Census Bureau will release the 2016 American Community Survey (ACS) data this coming Thursday, September 14, 2017. This will include tables for the 1-year (2016) estimates.

The 5-year (2012-2016) data will be released on December 7, 2017.

Accredited journalists will get a jump on the data analysis: the data is available, but “embargoed” (can’t be released) on September 12th, and the “embargo is lifted” on September 14th. Watch for census-related stories in the media this Thursday and Friday!

Here is a link to a Census Bureau memorandum discussing the newly (9/7/17) release of ACS documentation. This is helpful. You can analyze the documentation before the data is made available.

https://acsdatacommunity.prb.org/acs-data-products--resources/acs-documentation/f/16/t/299

I used to be jealous: why do journalists get “early access” to embargoed data, and not accredited local government planners? Now, I figure that there is plenty of work for both journalists and local analysts, so it’s not too big a deal these days.

Here is a link to the full, 2016 ACS Data Release Schedule:

https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/news/data-releases/2016/release-schedule.html

Another Census Bureau page of interest is the September 7, 2017 “webinar” discussing the 1-year 2016 ACS data release:

https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/news/events/acs-1-year-2016.html

Chuck Purvis,

Hayward, California

clpurvis@gmail.com