Disruptions and Remedies to the 2020 American Community Survey 1-Year: What to Know

From March through September, 2020, the Census Bureau’s typical data collection operations were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the lowest household response rate in the survey’s history. As a consequence, some specific individual characteristics (such as marital status or educational attainment) produced “unexpected trends” and/or were considerably different from the same measurement published in other data sources. This post covers what happened, the Census Bureau’s response, and Forsyth Future’s guidance in how to navigate the 2020 ACS 1-year data moving forward.