ACS Data Users Group

 View Only
Back to discussions
Expand all | Collapse all

Questions on working with Updated variables in ACS-5year

  • 1.  Questions on working with Updated variables in ACS-5year

    Posted 02-26-2024 07:45 PM

    Hi all,

    I had a quick question and have been digging to try and find an answer for.

    How do the updated variable schedules work?


    The ACS-5year has a list of variable changes that occur between releases. I make use of a decent handful of these variables and wanted to double check that the same variables apply or have been changed.

    An example:

    I look at variable DP05_0085E in prior years:
    https://api.census.gov/data/2022/acs/acs5/profile/variables/DP05_0085E.json

    For the 2022 year it has been updated to DP05_0087E:
    https://api.census.gov/data/2022/acs/acs5/profile/variables/DP05_0087E.json

    However, when accessing data I can still access the DP05_0085E data and DP05_0087E
    additionally, this updated datapoint has data back to 2017

    When a variable update happens, is it expected that 5 years will be updated to include this new point. Will the old datapoint be available this year but not next?

    I've been a bit confused on how to best continue gathering this data while also looking at the new ones!

    Thank you for any and all help!

    Best,
    Wyatt