The American Community Survey (ACS) is the premier source of detailed information about the nation's people and housing. As an ongoing survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau since 2005, the ACS collects detailed social, economic, housing, and demographic information from a sample of households across the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
The ACS provides up-to-date information annually, which helps local officials, community leaders, and businesses make informed decisions. Covering more than 40 topics—including education, employment, income, housing, and transportation—the ACS provides crucial insights into the changing needs and conditions of communities. Its data are used for countless reasons, such as to plan roads, schools, and emergency services, and to guide the distribution of government funding.
The Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) files enable data users to create custom estimates and tables, free of charge, that are not available through ACS pretabulated data products. The ACS PUMS files are a set of records from individual people or housing units, with disclosure protection enabled so that individuals or housing units cannot be identified.
The Census Bureau produces ACS 1-year and 5-year PUMS files. Only selected geographic areas are identified in the ACS PUMS, including nation, regions, divisions, states, and Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs). Of these, PUMAs are the most detailed geographic areas available.
The data used in this site describes the social, economic, demographic, and housing characteristics of the U.S. population aged 50 and older. The source is the American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year Estimates, which covers a wide range of topics, including:
Population & Diversity
Workforce
Education
Housing and Living
Health
This platform provides data at four geographic levels:
For nation and state, data is reported directly from official ACS summary tables.
However, for counties and congressional districts, some indicators—especially those derived from PUMS (Public Use Microdata Sample)—are not directly available at these geographic levels. PUMS data is released at the Public Use Microdata Area (PUMA) level, which covers populations of approximately 100,000 people and does not align perfectly with county or congressional district boundaries.
To make this data usable at finer geographic levels, we apply an overlapping geography estimation approach, described below.
When a user selects a county or congressional district, the platform:
Identifies all PUMAs that overlap the selected geography
Some PUMAs fall entirely within the selected area, while others only partially overlap.
Calculates population overlap ratios
For each overlapping PUMA, we estimate what share of its population lies within the selected geography.
Allocates PUMA-based values proportionally
PUMS-derived metrics are weighted by these overlap ratios so that only the appropriate share of each PUMA contributes to the final estimate.
Aggregates contributions across all overlapping PUMAs
The weighted values are summed to produce a single estimate for the selected county or congressional district.
Values shown for counties and congressional districts should be understood as population-weighted estimates, not direct survey tabulations.
This table shows how the selected county or congressional district is constructed from overlapping Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs). Each row represents a PUMA and the share of its population that falls within the selected geography. These population-weighted contributions are used to calculate the final estimates shown elsewhere on the platform.
Select a state, geographic level, and geography to view the crosswalk table.