The U.S. Census Bureau will hold a prerelease webinar on January 22 at 1 p.m. ET to discuss the upcoming release of the 2020-2024 American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates. The session aims to guide participants on how to access ACS data and provide advice for comparing statistics across different geographies and time periods.
The ACS is an important source of information about the population and housing in the United States, offering data on topics such as language spoken at home, education, commuting patterns, employment, mortgage status and rent, income, poverty levels, and health insurance coverage. For many of these subjects, it remains the only provider of local-level estimates.
According to the Census Bureau, embargo subscribers will be able to view the new statistics starting January 27 at 10 a.m. ET. These figures cover various geographic areas including all states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, congressional and state legislative districts, metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas, counties, places, census tracts, and block groups. Embargoed access will last until January 29 at 12:01 a.m. ET. The agency emphasized that wire services are not allowed to distribute news stories or data files before the public release date in accordance with its embargo policy. All datasets will become publicly available by January 29 at 10 a.m. ET.
Individuals interested in embargo access can register through the Census Bureau’s website at www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/embargoed_releases.
The webinar will feature Gretchen Gooding, chief of the American Community Survey Office Outreach and Education Branch; Vicki Mack, statistician from the American Community Survey Office; and Jewel Jordan from the Public Information Office. The event will include both an audio conference and online presentation format. Attendees can ask questions during or after the presentation using provided features.
Registration for participation in the webinar is available at www.census.gov/data/academy/webinars/2026/2020-2024-acs-5-year-prerelease.html.
