ACS Data Users Group

Hi. Does anyone from the Census know if they'll be releasing the 5-year Summary File Templates prior to the data release? I'm referring to this file (from last year): https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/summary_file/2016/data/2016_5yr_Summary_FileTemplates.zip. Last year, it was released a week before the data release, but doesn't appear to be released yet this year (I would expect to find it here: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/summary_file/2017/data/). It's very helpful for our preparation in processing ACS.

Thanks!

-Bernie

Is this what you are looking for?
www.census.gov/.../summary-file-documentation.html

No, it has a lot of related information, but I'm specifically looking for the template files, which besides being in the FTP pages listed above, appeared last year here: www.census.gov/.../summary-file.2016.html.

The reason for wanting the template files is we have pre-built processes that use these files. We could shift to using the lookup file, but would rather not if the template files will be released. I assume they will be at some point, since the 2017 1-year ACS has them.

ah, right. Odd that they aren't included with the pre-prelease documentation. Haven't stumbled on those. I have created an MS Access file with the file structure ready and and macro to import the files, if that helps you.

Hi Bernie,

Yes, the ACS 5-Year Summary File Templates will be released on December 6th with the full 5-year data release. You are correct, the link you provided is where the templates will be found:
www2.census.gov/.../

Thank you for using our data!
Best,
Caleb

Hi Caleb, thank you for your response. It was very convenient how the template was released early in previous years, so that we could prepare our databases.

JamiRae, thanks for your offer. We need to have the template files sourced from the Census in the format of previous years, so we'll just wait until those are provided.

Hi Bernie, thank you for this insight. I will check with the Summary File team about releasing the template early again moving forward.
Best,
Caleb