The U.S. Census Bureau will host a prerelease webinar on January 22 at 1 p.m. ET to discuss the upcoming release of the 2020-2024 American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates. The session aims to help participants learn how to access ACS data and understand how to compare geographic areas and statistics over time.
The ACS collects detailed information about people and housing in the United States, including topics such as language spoken at home, education, commuting patterns, employment status, mortgage or rent payments, income levels, poverty rates, and health insurance coverage. It remains the only source for local estimates on most of these subjects.
Statistics from the new ACS estimates will be made available first to embargo subscribers starting January 27 at 10 a.m. ET. These figures will cover a wide range of geographic areas, including all states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, congressional and state legislative districts, metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas, counties, places, census tracts, and block groups.
Embargoed access will last until January 29 at 12:01 a.m. ET. During this period, wire services and distribution channels are not allowed to publish news stories or data files before the official public release date and time. The Census Bureau’s embargo policy provides more details about these restrictions. All datasets will become publicly available by January 29 at 10 a.m. ET.
Those interested in embargo access can register online through the Census Bureau’s website: www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/embargoed_releases
The prerelease webinar will feature Gretchen Gooding (chief of the American Community Survey Office Outreach and Education Branch), Vicki Mack (statistician with the American Community Survey Office), and Jewel Jordan (public affairs specialist in the Public Information Office). The event will include both an audio conference and an online presentation; attendees do not need to call in separately for audio.
Media representatives and data users can ask questions during the webinar using a Q&A feature or after the presentation via audio.
Registration for the webinar is available at www.census.gov/data/academy/webinars/2026/2020-2024-acs-5-year-prerelease.html
