ACS Data Users Group

Good afternoon,

I filtered two ACS data tables using 2021 5-year data to the Anchorage Municipality for American Indian and Alaska Native alone or in combination with one or more other races. The data tables were the Sex by Age: https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5YSPT2021.B01001?t=009:Age+and+Sex&g=050XX00US02020 and selected social characteristics in the US: https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDP5YAIAN2021.DP02?t=006:009:01A&g=040XX00US02_310XX00US11260&y=2021&d=ACS+5-Year+Estimates+American+Indian+and+Alaska+Native+Data+Profiles


The Sex by Age Table shows a (calculated) total of 13,013 children under the age of 18
The selected social Charteristics shows a total of 17,432 children under the age of 18.

What would be the most reliable data set for this task?
Why are the numbers so different?

It looks like the geographies are subtly different. For B01001, the Anchorage municipality is selected. For DP02, the Anchorage Metropolitan Area is selected. I don't know much (anything!) about Alaskan Census geography, but I'm guessing they are not the same. Which to choose depends on what you want to do. It might help to look at the map for each of these geographies.

Metro areas comprise counties or county equivalents, so they are definitely not the same as a municipality (place).

Thank you - Glenn and JN, The anchorage metro I guess includes another borough which would explain why the numbers are different. For Anchorage it is both a city and a county according to the census but the metro area includes the mat-su evidently.

Thanks,

Eric