American Community Survey (5 Year Estimates)

Author

Nhat (Chris) Le

Published

July 10, 2024

Brief Description

The American Community Survey (ACS) provides detailed demographic, social, economic, and housing data based on 5-year estimates. This dataset includes various measures related to community capitals, such as housing, employment, commuting, and broadband subscription.

General Source

The primary source for the measures below is the ACS 5-year report, 2022.

Margin of Errors

Most of the ACS measures and datasets have the high_moe columns which is True if the margin of error is greater than half of the measure.

prop_single

Measure Description

Percentage of single-parent households with children.

Source

ACS Variables:

  • B11003_010 (Male household)
  • B11003_016 (Female household)
  • B11003_001 (total household)

Measure Calculation

The proportion of single-parent households is calculated by summing the number of male and female single-parent households and dividing by the total number of households.

\[\frac{\text{Male + Female}}{\text{Total Household}}\]

prop_commute

Measure Description

Percentage of commuters who commute more than one hour to work.

Source

ACS Variables:

  • B08134_010 (# long-distance Commuters)
  • B08134_001 (total commuters)

Measure Calculation

The proportion of long-distance commuters is calculated by dividing the number of commuters who commute more than one hour by the total number of commuters. \[\frac{\text{Long-distance commuters}}{\text{Total Commuters}}\]

English Proficiency

Measure Description

Percentage of Residents who are proficient at English.

Source

ACS Variables for residents who speak very good English:

  • B16008_004
  • B16008_006
  • B16008_009
  • B16008_012
  • B16008_014
  • B16008_017
  • B16008_022
  • B16008_024
  • B16008_027
  • B16008_030
  • B16008_032
  • B16008_035
  • B16008_039
  • B16008_041
  • B16008_044
  • B16008_047
  • B16008_049
  • B16008_052
  • B16008_001 (Total # of residents)

Measure Calculation

The proportion of proficient English speakers is calculated by summing the number of all groups of English speakers and dividing by the total number of residents.

\[\frac{\text{Sum Proficient}}{\text{Total Residents}}\]

Employments in agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting, and mining

Measure Description

Percentage of the population employed in agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting, and mining.

Source

ACS Variables:

  • C24030_001 (Total civilian employed population 16 years or older)
  • C24030_030 (Female employments 16 years or older in above industries)
  • C24030_003 (Male employments 16 years or older in above industries)

Measure Calculation

The proportion of employed population in these industries is calculated by summing the male and female employments in these industries and dividing by the total civilian employed population.

\[\frac{\text{Male Employments + Female Employments}}{\text{Total Employments}}\]

Median household property value

Measure Description

Median value of household properties (in dollars).

Source

ACS Variables:

  • B25077_001 (Median household property value)

Measure Calculation

The median household property value is directly taken from the ACS 5-year report, variable B25077_001.

Median year of built structures

Measure Description

Median year in which structures were built.

Source

ACS Variables:

  • B25035_001 (Median year of built structures)

Measure Calculation

The median year of built structures is directly taken from the ACS 5-year report, variable B25035_001.

Percentage of housing units built before 1960

Measure Description

Percentage of housing units built before 1960.

Source

ACS Variables:

  • B25034_010 (Housing units built 1940 to 1949)
  • B25034_009 (Housing units built 1950 to 1959)
  • B25034_011 (Housing units built before 1940)
  • B25034_001 (Total housing units)

Measure Calculation

The proportion of housing units built before 1960 is calculated by summing the housing units built up to 1959 and dividing by the total number of housing units.

Percentage of units that are occupied

Measure Description

Percentage of housing units that are occupied.

Source

ACS Variables:

  • B25002_002 (Occupied units)
  • B25002_001 (Total units)

Measure Calculation

The proportion of occupied housing units is calculated by dividing the number of occupied units by the total number of housing units.

\[\frac{\text{Occupied Units}}{\text{Total Units}}\]

Percentage of households with complete plumbing

Measure Description

Percentage of households with complete plumbing facilities.

Source

ACS Variables:

  • B25047_002 (# Facilities with complete plumbing)
  • B25047_001 (Total plumbing facilities)

Measure Calculation

The proportion of households with complete plumbing is calculated by dividing the number of facilities with complete plumbing by the total number of plumbing facilities.

\[\frac{\text{Complete Plumbing}}{\text{Total Plumbing}}\]

Percentage of households with a broadband subscription

Measure Description

Percentage of households with a broadband internet subscription.

Source

ACS Variables:

  • B28011_004 (# Internet subscriptions in households using broadband)
  • B28002_001 (Total internet subscriptions in households)

Measure Calculation

The proportion of households with a broadband subscription is calculated by dividing the number of households with broadband internet subscriptions by the total number of households with internet subscriptions.

\[\frac{\text{Broadband Subsription}}{\text{Total Internet Subscription}}\]

Race Diversity

Measure Description

Diversity in the distribution of different race across Iowa communities.

Source

ACS Variables:

  • B03002_003 (Not Hispanic or Latino:!!White alone)
  • B03002_004 (Not Hispanic or Latino:!!Black or African American alone)
  • B03002_005 (Not Hispanic or Latino:!!American Indian and Alaska Native alone)
  • B03002_006 (Not Hispanic or Latino:!!Asian alone)
  • B03002_007 (Not Hispanic or Latino:!!Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone)
  • B03002_008 (Not Hispanic or Latino:!!Some other race alone)
  • B03002_009 (Not Hispanic or Latino:!!Two or more races)
  • B03002_013 (Hispanic or Latino:!!White alone)
  • B03002_014 (Hispanic or Latino:!!Black or African American alone)
  • B03002_015 (Hispanic or Latino:!!American Indian and Alaska Native alone)
  • B03002_016 (Hispanic or Latino:!!Asian alone)
  • B03002_017 (Hispanic or Latino:!!Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone)
  • B03002_018 (Hispanic or Latino:!!Some other race alone)
  • B03002_019 (Hispanic or Latino:!!Two or more races)

Measure Calculation

Simpson Index

\[D = 1 - \left( \frac{\sum n(n-1)}{N(N-1)} \right)\]

Where:

• n = the total number of organisms of a particular species

• N = the total number of organisms of all species

Interpretation: Simpson’s Diversity Index is a measure of diversity which takes into account the number of species present, as well as the relative abundance of each species. As species richness and evenness increase, so diversity increases. It is also the probability of picking two random individuals which are not of the same group.

Race Diversity

With different groups of race taken from ACS, we calculate the Simpson Index to measure the diversity, using the above formula.