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 help participants understand how to access ACS data and provide guidance on comparing geographic areas and statistics over time.
The ACS is a key source of detailed information about the U.S. population and housing, covering topics such as language spoken at home, education, commuting patterns, employment status, mortgage or rent payments, income levels, poverty rates, and health insurance coverage. It offers local-level estimates for more than 40 subjects that are not available from other sources.
According to the Census Bureau, embargo subscribers will have early access to these statistics starting January 27 at 10 a.m. ET. The data will cover various geographic regions 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 Census Bureau emphasized that wire services and distribution outlets must not release news stories or data files before the public release date in accordance with its embargo policy. All datasets will be publicly available by January 29 at 10 a.m. ET.
To register for embargo access or learn more about the policy visit www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/embargoed_releases.
Speakers for the webinar include Gretchen Gooding, chief of the American Community Survey Office Outreach and Education Branch; Vicki Mack, statistician in the American Community Survey Office; and Jewel Jordan from the Public Information Office.
The event will feature an audio conference alongside an online presentation. Attendees can listen without dialing in separately for audio. Credentialed media members and data users may ask questions during the Q&A segment or after the presentation through audio participation.
Registration for the webinar is available at www.census.gov/data/academy/webinars/2026/2020-2024-acs-5-year-prerelease.html.
