ACS Data Users Group

Hello,

While reviewing table S2301, I noticed that the population universe seemed to change in year 2018 for population sub-groups. Specifically, I am looking at 1-year ACS numbers for Disability Status -> with any disability.

If I am reading the table correctly, it looks like between years 2015-17, the population universe was age 16+. But starting in year 2018, the population universe changed to age 20-64 years old.

Am I reading this table correctly? If so, does anyone have more insight into why the table change? I could not find any documentation. Thank you -

Brian Parthum

Table S1811 is a good comparison here because it lists economic characteristics of the population with a disability for those age 16+. If you look at the total universe counts for those with disabilities on that table, you will see that they are much higher than the universe counts in S2301, which is only age 20-64. I checked back in 2015-2017 and this appears to be true for those years as well.

Also, you can do a spot check with PUMS data. The counts will not match exactly because of the use of microdata, but you can see if the 20-64 population with disability is close to the universe counts on your table: https://data.census.gov/mdat/#/search?ds=ACSPUMS1Y2017&cv=DIS&rv=AGEP_RC1&wt=PWGTP&AGEP_RC1=%7B%22S%22%3A%22Age%20recode%22%2C%22R%22%3A%22AGEP%22%2C%22W%22%3A%22PWGTP%22%2C%22V%22%3A%5B%5B%221%3A19%2C65%3A99%2C00%22%2C%22Not%20Elsewhere%20Classified%22%5D%2C%5B%2220%3A64%22%2C%22Between%2020%20and%2064%22%5D%5D%7D

Based on this, it appears S2301 uses the 20-64 population for those with disabilities, not 16+.