Census Bureau to Offer American Community Survey Internet Response

The American Community Survey, the most detailed portrait of America's towns and neighborhoods, is now more convenient for most participants with the added availability of responding online. That will make it the 61st U.S. Census Bureau survey with Internet response, saving money on printing, paper, postage and processing costs, while maintaining security.

Households selected to participate in the American Community Survey will receive a letter in the mail with instructions about how to log in to the secure website and complete the survey online. When using the online response option, participants will have the ability to review their answers and receive help. This response option, which is secure and confidential, will be available for almost everyone in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. If households selected to participate in the survey do not use the online response option, the Census Bureau will send them a paper questionnaire, or contact them by phone or in person to obtain answers. In addition to collecting information online, the Census Bureau is adding a series of questions on computer and Internet usage. The data gathered through these questions will become available beginning in 2014. The American Community Survey is sent to more than 3.5 million housing unit addresses on a rotating basis throughout the year. The survey provides a wide range of important statistics about people and housing for every community across the nation. The results are widely used, for example, by town and city planners, 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.