The American Community Survey (ACS) is the most widely used source of language data in the United States, largely because it is the only survey to provide language and English-speaking ability data for local communities. Language data users are a diverse group and include:
In an effort to better serve these data users’ needs, the U.S. Census Bureau made some language data coding and presentation improvements in 2016. The goals of this overhaul included the following:
The changes seen in the 2016 ACS language data and beyond were a result of a process that took more than four years. The need for these updates was first noticed after the 2010 Census, when subject matter experts in the Education and Social Stratification Branch of the Social (ESSB), Economic and Housing Statistics Division identified the need for more uniform, standardized coding. Between 2013 and 2015, the new language code list was created. Between 2015 and 2017, implementation of the changes into ACS production took place. New data products for individual and household language data were designed in 2016, and were released to the public in 2017 and early 2018. This report describes the processes, decision points, and challenges involved in this redesign.