Unfamiliar with the many ways you can obtain statistics from the American Community Survey? Learn more about the tools available to help you access current social, economic, housing, and demographic statistics for the nation's communities.
Congressional Staffer
Mariam, in Congressman Underwood's office, needs updated information about the congressman's constituents with the new 113th Congressional District boundaries. She would also like to post this information on the congressman's website to share with interested parties.
Recommendation: My Congressional District
Why this tool may be right for you:
Why you may want to consider another tool:
Tip: For more geographies or topics, try Subject Tables, Data Profiles or other tools below.
Go to My Congressional District!
Emergency Planner
Chief Ryan, a county emergency planner, needs an easy way to access selected statistics, such as type of housing, so he can better plan for emergencies in his community. He would also like to make this information available on the county's website.
Recommendation: Easy Stats
Why this tool may be right for you:
Why you may want to consider another tool:
Tip: For more geographies or topics, try Subject Tables, Data Profiles or other tools below.
Try Easy Stats now!
Mayor
Mayor Gooding is looking for key facts about the people and businesses in her town before heading to the state-wide conference of mayors. She wants to be able to quickly compare facts from her town to other towns in her state.
Recommendation: QuickFacts
Why this tool may be right for you:
Why you may want to consider another tool:
Tip: For more geographies or topics, try Subject Tables, Data Profiles or other tools below.
Go to QuickFacts!
Educator
Jocelyn wants the most recent information about a variety of topics, such as language spoken at home, disability, and age, to help figure out what kinds of services and staff they will need in her school district. She wants this high level information in separate fact sheets on social, economic, demographic, and housing characteristics for her area.
Recommendation: Data Profiles (on American FactFinder)
Why this tool may be right for you:
Why you may want to consider another tool:
Tip: For block group data, look at the Summary File tool below.
Link to Data Profiles and choose your geography.
Veterans Coordinator
Carlos is interested in veterans, including veterans status, period of service, employment status, and educational attainment, to help his organization provide information on VA medical services and job training programs. He would like the information on his topic in one table with numbers and percentages.
Recommendation: Subject Tables (on American FactFinder)
Why this tool may be right for you:
Why you may want to consider another tool:
Browse subjects below and link to the Subject Tables.
Note: Links to Subject Tables default to the national level on American FactFinder.
Choose your geography on the results page.
Market Analyst
Justin wants to compare characteristics of an area, such as household type, median family income, and language spoken at home, over time to determine needs for a new grocery store. He is interested in seeing if these characteristics have changed over time, and if these changes are statistically significant.
Recommendation: Comparison Profiles (on American FactFinder)
Why this tool may be right for you:
Why you may want to consider another tool:
Go to Comparison Profiles and choose your geography.
Business Owner
Thomas wants in-depth information about commuting patterns to figure out where to locate his service station and plan operating hours around busy commute times. He's looking for the most detailed information the ACS provides on this topic.
Recommendation: Detailed Tables (on American FactFinder)
Why this tool may be right for you:
Why you may want to consider another tool:
Browse the subjects covered by Detailed Tables and get links to the tables on American FactFinder.
Non-profit Administrator
Allison is looking for community information at the block group level to apply for funding. She has looked at the other ACS tools, and learned that block groups are only available in the ACS Summary File. She's not confident about downloading and interpreting the raw files from the FTP site, so she wants a tool that pieces the various parts of the ACS Summary File together.
Recommendation: Summary File Retrieval Tool
Why this tool may be right for you:
Why you may want to consider another tool:
Download the Summary File Retrieval Tool now!
Note: Supporting documentation also available.
Health Administrator
Benjamin wants to create his own tables of interest using PUMS files, but he does not have access to statistical software. He needs a free tool to create custom tabulations to plan for health care needs in his state.
Recommendation: DataFerrett
Why this tool may be right for you:
Why you may want to consider another tool:
Go to DataFerrett!
Regional Planner
Vanessa wants to do regional planning analysis using PUMS files, and she has expertise using statistical software. Vanessa is an advanced data user who is comfortable working with untabulated records to do research projects.
Recommendation: Public Use Microdata Sample files on FTP
Why this tool may be right for you:
Why you may want to consider another tool:
Get the PUMS downloads and supporting information in the PUMS section.
Developer
Karen wants to create a smartphone app that draws from the rich data collected by the ACS. She wants to retrieve estimates through an application programming interface so she can easily locate her variables of interest.
Recommendation: API
Why this tool may be right for you:
Why you may want to consider another tool:
Learn more about the Census Bureau's API on the API Developers site.