In August, we mentioned that the 2020 American Community Survey (ACS) 1-year release for census geographies with 65,000+ people had been canceled. COVID-19 impacts to operations and response rates rendered the data unreliable. An experimental product was announced in its place.

The ACS is distributed to more than 3.5 million addresses annually and disruptions to the survey process and follow-up at non-responding households resulted in a 33% drop in completed surveys collected in 2020. The announcement noted that bias among the non-respondents introduced substantial data quality errors. The 2020 ACS Public Use Microdata Samples also are impacted.

We have new information from the Census Bureau on this contingency data product including a release date, table format and geographic availability.

• The replacement experimental data tables will be published by November 30, 2021
• The U.S. and states will be the only areas covered; large counties and incorporated places over 65,000 people are not included.
• Table shells are available now
• Data will not be published to data.census.gov

The 2016-2020 5-year data release currently remains scheduled for December.