This chapter deals with the 1-year and 3-year data products. Future versions of this document will include a discussion of the 5-year data products. The American Community Survey (ACS) data products and supporting documentation are released in several series and at several Internet locations. The primary Web site for data dissemination is the American FactFinder (AFF); supporting documentation can be found on the ACS Web site and the Census Bureau's File Transfer Protocol (FTP) site.

Since 2000, the ACS has been tabulating and publishing single year estimates for specific areas with populations of 250,000 or more. In 2005, the ACS expanded its sample size to cover all of the United States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. In summer 2006, the ACS started releasing data annually for areas with populations of 65,000 or more. In 2008, the ACS is releasing 3-year period estimates for areas with a population of 20,000 or more on an annual basis. For smaller areas, it will take 5 years to accumulate a large enough sample to produce releasable estimates. Once those data are collected, the Census Bureau will release tabulations annually, based on 5-year period data for areas as small as census tracts and block groups.

Federal agencies distribute billions of dollars among states, tribal governments, and population groups, based on social and economic data. In the past, the statistics that determined services locations and program funding came in large part from the long-form sample of the decennial census. As the ACS continues to grow, its data products will provide updated versions of many of the long-form products from Census 2000. Beginning in 2010, the decennial census no longer will include a long-form sample, and ACS data products will provide high-quality, updated annual statistics for comparisons of the demographic, social, economic, and housing characteristics of areas and population groups. The ACS statistics also will show trends and relative differences between areas and population groups. These data products will continue to meet the needs of those who previously used the decennial census sample statistics, and will provide more current statistics than those available from the census long-form sample, which reflect only one point in time.