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 provide guidance on accessing ACS data and offer tips for comparing geographic areas and statistics over time.
The ACS gathers information about various aspects of the population and housing in the United States, including topics such as languages spoken at home, education levels, commuting patterns, employment status, mortgage or rent details, income, poverty rates, and health insurance coverage. For many of these subjects, the ACS is the only source providing local-level estimates.
Embargo subscribers will be able to access the new statistics beginning January 27 at 10 a.m. ET. The data will cover a range of geographic units such as states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, congressional and state legislative districts, metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas, counties, places, census tracts, and block groups. The embargo period will last until January 29 at 12:01 a.m. ET. Distribution services are not permitted to release news stories or data files before the public release date according to the Census Bureau’s embargo policy. Public access to all datasets will begin on January 29 by 10 a.m. ET.
To obtain embargo access, registration is available through www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/embargoed_releases.
The webinar will feature Gretchen Gooding (chief of Outreach and Education Branch at the American Community Survey Office), Vicki Mack (statistician at the American Community Survey Office), and Jewel Jordan (public affairs specialist in the Public Information Office). Participants can attend via an audio conference paired with an online presentation; no separate phone call is needed for audio access. Media representatives and data users may ask questions during or after the presentation using designated features.
Registration for the webinar is open at www.census.gov/data/academy/webinars/2026/2020-2024-acs-5-year-prerelease.html.
