The U.S. Census Bureau announced today the public release schedule for the official national income, poverty and health insurance statistics for 2012 from the Current Population Survey, as well as local estimates from the American Community Survey (ACS).

National 2012 income, poverty and health insurance statistics — Current Population Survey

These national estimates will be released Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2013. Additional information regarding the time and format of the release will be included in a separate announcement closer to the release date. As is standard procedure, there will be no embargo of these statistics.

State and local 2012 American Community Survey

The Census Bureau plans to release one-year estimates from the 2012 ACS on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2013. The ACS produces estimates for numerous social, economic and housing characteristics including language, education, the commute to work, employment, mortgage status and rent, as well as income, poverty and health insurance. Embargo subscribers will have access on an embargoed basis to the estimates beginning Tuesday, Sept. 17. Estimates will be available for the nation, all 50 states, the District Columbia, Puerto Rico, every congressional district, every metropolitan area, and all counties and places with populations of 65,000 or more.

2010-2012 American Community Survey

The Census Bureau plans to release the three-year estimates from the 2010-2012 ACS on Oct. 24, 2013. Embargo subscribers will have access to the statistics up to 48 hours in advance of the public release. The estimates will cover all geographic areas with populations of 20,000 or more. For the first time, comparison profiles will be available for the three-year estimates. These will permit users to compare two non-overlapping three-year periods (2007-2009 versus 2010-2012) and see which changes were statistically significant.

2008-2012 American Community Survey

The Census Bureau plans to release the five-year ACS statistics covering 2008-2012 on Dec. 5, 2013. Embargo subscribers will have access to the estimates on Dec. 3. These statistics are available for all areas regardless of population size, down to the block group.

The ACS Public Use Microdata Sample files for each of the three sets of statistics will be released one to two months after each public release.

The Current Population Survey serves as the nation's primary source of statistics on labor force characteristics. The ASEC provides the official annual statistics on the nation's income and poverty levels as well as statistics on age, sex, race, marital status, educational attainment, employee benefits, work schedules, school enrollment, health insurance, noncash benefits and migration. The Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics have conducted the CPS for more than 50 years. The statistics are used by government policymakers as important indicators of our nation's economy and for planning and evaluating many government programs.

The American Community Survey provides a wide range of important statistics about people and housing for every community across the nation. The results are used by everyone from town and city planners to retailers and homebuilders. The survey is the only source of local estimates for most of the 40 topics it covers, such as education, occupation, language, ancestry and housing costs for even the smallest communities. Ever since Thomas Jefferson directed the first census in 1790, the census has collected detailed characteristics about our nation's people. Questions about jobs and the economy were added 20 years later under James Madison, who said such information would allow Congress to "adapt the public measures to the particular circumstances of the community," and over the decades allow America "an opportunity of marking the progress of the society."

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