Annually Updated American Community Survey Data is Now Available in ArcGIS Living Atlas

The United States Census Bureau has just released the latest annual update to its American Community Survey (ACS) data, the premier government source for detailed national population information. Federal agencies, non-profits, and grant applicants rely heavily on this data for operations and decision-making. Esri, the global leader in location intelligence, has now updated the ACS layers and maps in ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World, making the newest five-year estimates of demographic, housing, social, and economic characteristics easily accessible to ArcGIS users.

ArcGIS Living Atlas, the foremost collection of global geographic information, offers over 1,700 annually updated attributes from ACS tables. This empowers organizations worldwide to conduct robust research, analysis, and decision-making using authoritative geospatial data.

“Being able to access these brand-new data values directly within Living Atlas makes it easy to start understanding the changes taking place in communities or areas of interest through maps and further analysis,” said Diana Lavery, Esri senior product engineer. “With governments across the nation facing challenges like the need for increased housing and improved infrastructure, spatial population data is crucial for understanding how to align policies with demographic needs.”

Updated layers in the collection incorporate the latest five-year estimates covering 2019–2023. In addition, this year’s update includes the ability to access Living Atlas ACS Vintage clearly displayed in the pop-up function. Before, users had to go to the layers’ Item Details Page to confirm that these layers had the most recent vintage available. While this information is still there, it’s now available in the pop-up as well. Also, the collection of 2010-2014 historical layers now has the vintage information in their pop-ups as well. These corresponding 2010-2014 boundaries layers are symbolized using the same color ramp and breakpoints as the layers containing the most recent data for a clear comparison. This helps users who are interested in showing change over time with swipe experiences in the Media Map Instant App.

Another addition this year is a Learn Path full of resources that walk through different ways to incorporate margins of error (MOEs) into maps. For example, this lightweight app helps users achieve a quick sense of how reliable estimates are for each tract, and how they become more reliable as they aggregate tracts using the boundary of a neighborhood or other shape.

ACS layers in ArcGIS Living Atlas typically update every December within days after the US Census Bureau releases its new five-year estimates. The current five-year ACS data can be accessed in ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Pro, Esri's configurable apps and dashboards, and ArcGIS StoryMaps. All maps using these layers will automatically contain the newest ACS figures.

To learn more about the latest updates and how to use ACS data layers in ArcGIS Living Atlas, visit go.esri.com/living-atlas/acs.

About Esri

Esri, the global market leader in geographic information system (GIS) software, location intelligence, and mapping, helps customers unlock the full potential of data to improve operational and business results. Founded in 1969 in Redlands, California, USA, Esri software is deployed in hundreds of thousands of organizations globally, including Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, nonprofit institutions, and universities. Esri has regional offices, international distributors, and partners providing local support in over 100 countries on six continents. With its pioneering commitment to geospatial technology and analytics, Esri engineers the most innovative solutions that leverage a geographic approach to solving some of the world's most complex problems by placing them in the crucial context of location. Visit us at esri.com.

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