Beginning in 2019, the Census Bureau implemented changes to the Telephone Service question based on results from the 2016 American Community Survey (ACS) Content Test. Research on the pre-2019 question indicated that some respondents and enumerators did not fully understand the wording of the question’s instruction and what the question intended to capture.

The pre-2019 question was part of the kitchen and plumbing facilities battery of responses and included an instruction to “Include cell phones.” This led to confusion for some respondents and enumerators on the types of phones that should be considered when answering the question.

As a result of the 2016 ACS Content Test, the 2019 version of the question includes an instruction to “Include calls using cell phones, land lines, or other phone devices.” The change attempts to clarify that the question does not limit telephone service to any particular type of phone, but that all types of phones should be considered when answering the question.

In addition, the 2019 question was removed from the battery of kitchen and plumbing facilities responses and made a stand-alone question. Cognitive testing indicated when the question is phrased the way it is in 2019, respondents have a better understanding of the intent of the question since ownership of phones has become more personal and not necessarily a fixed, physical component of a housing unit.

In general, these changes to the question resulted in an increase of telephone service availability estimates across most geographies in 2019 as compared to 2018, as well as a decrease in the overall item missing rate. The data products in which telephone service estimates are shown and may be affected by these changes are the following: B25043, B992513, S0102, S0103, S0201, S0501, S0502, S0503, S0504, S0505, S0506, S2504, DP04, and CP04.