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 will cover how to access ACS data and provide guidance on comparing statistics across different geographic areas and over time.
The ACS collects detailed information about people and housing in the United States, including topics such as language spoken at home, education levels, commuting patterns, employment status, mortgage and rent details, income, poverty rates, and health insurance coverage. For many of these subjects, the ACS is the only source of local-level estimates.
According to the Census Bureau, embargo subscribers will have early access to these new statistics starting January 27 at 10 a.m. ET. This access covers various geographic regions such as all states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, congressional districts, state legislative districts, metropolitan and micropolitan areas, counties, places, census tracts, and block groups. The embargo period ends on January 29 at 12:01 a.m. ET. News organizations are not allowed to publish stories or distribute data files based on this information before it is publicly released in accordance with the Census Bureau’s embargo policy. Public access to all datasets will begin on January 29 by 10 a.m. ET.
Those interested in receiving embargoed information can register for access at www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/embargoed_releases.
Presenters for the webinar include Gretchen Gooding from the American Community Survey Office Outreach and Education Branch; Vicki Mack from the American Community Survey Office; and Jewel Jordan from the Public Information Office.
“The webinar will consist of a simultaneous audio conference and online presentation. Attendees do not have to call into the webinar to hear the audio. Credentialed media and data users will be able to ask questions during the webinar utilizing the Q&A feature and after the presentation through audio.”
Registration for participation in this session is available at www.census.gov/data/academy/webinars/2026/2020-2024-acs-5-year-prerelease.html.
