ACS Data Users Group

Hi All,

I work for an organization that uses a lot of Census data on children. One of the more valuable tables I've been able to find in the American Community Survey data has been one called "Children Characteristics" (this is table S0901). I would love to get information on children in every county in Illinois, but for some reason the ACS only provides estimates for about 45 out of Illinois' 102 counties. I've never been able to find a clear answer on why this is the case. Does anyone know why the ACS doesn't provide those estimates for every county, and what are some alternative data sources you use if you've run into the same issue?

Bill

Are you trying to download 1 year or 5 year data? Try the 5 year tables if you have not already done so.

That's the thing: I double-checked to make sure, and it is indeed the the 5-year estimates I'm looking at. When I download 1-year estimates, only 5 counties have data. So I'm not really sure what's going on!

I'd compare the missing counties by their population by age tables. There's likely a cutoff where the Census is suppressing data reporting for privacy issues. You could compare the count of population under 18 and missing counties to get an idea of where this occurs.

I'll check those tables out. Thanks!