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ensure accuracy. Using the American Community Survey: Benefits
and Challenges Important Next Steps The full implementation of
data collection for the American Community Survey (ACS) in
2005–2006 is a historic event for the nation’s statistical
system. Based on over 10 years of research and development by
the Census Bureau, the ACS is intended to replace the decennial
census long-form sample as a source of regularly updated
demographic and socioeconomic information on the population and
housing of states, counties, cities, and other governmental and
statistical areas. The panel’s assessment is that the ACS will
deliver on its promise to provide more timely, frequent, and
complete information than the longform sample. Given the
survey’s continuous design, however, ACS estimates are not the
same as the long-form-sample estimates for