American Community Survey Update

We’re updating the American Community Survey (ACS) data with the upcoming Vision update arriving on Monday, May 5^th, at 8pm (UK time).

Please note that the US Counties in the State of Connecticut have changed. If you use the Counties to make your territories, you can find out more information about the changes by following this link.

Due to these changes, some system admin must be carried out to access the latest version of these demographics. Different actions are required depending on whether you use administrative geography, which includes Block Groups, TRACTS, Counties or States, or postal geography (ZCTAs). We’ll explain each below.

Administrative Geography

Block Groups, TRACTS, Counties or States.

As the boundaries for the Counties have changed, if you use any of the layers listed above, you will need to update to the latest release version to access the most up-to-date ACS data. That’s all you need to do from a system point of view. However, you will need to manage any County territories affected by the changes. The counties in Connecticut have been completely changed, so any territories will be deleted and will need to be recreated using the newest version of the Counties.

For help updating to the latest boundary release, please check out our help centre article.

Postal Geography

ZCTAs (5 Digit), ZCTAs (3 Digit) and ZCTAs (2 Digit).

If you use the ZCTAs, you will need to manage the process of adding the latest version of the demographics and removing the old versions. Remember that you will need to do this for the ZCTAs, and any territory layers built from these. Once you’ve done it for one layer, you can copy those to other layers more easily.

For help managing which demographics display on a layer, please look at this help centre article.

Need any help?

If you get stuck or would like help accessing the latest ACS data, please feel free to contact us. We'd be more than happy to help.