American Community
Survey (ACS)

A continuous annual survey organized by the U.S. Census Bureau. The ACS gathers information that would otherwise be included in the decennial census, including ancestry, education metrics, income, language proficiency, migration, disability, employment, and housing characteristics. This data is used to distribute funding, illustrate demographic trends, emergency planning, and other federal, state, and municipal functions.

Asian/Pacific Islander language

The percentage of all ACS occupied housing units where an Asian and Pacific Island language was assigned as the household language and no one ages 14 years and over speaks English only or speaks English 'very well'.

Crowded occupancy

The percentage of ACS occupied housing units that have more than 1.01 persons per room.

First mail response

The percentage of all addresses in a 2010 Census mailback area for which the first Mailout/Mailback form mailed was completed and returned. State and municipal values represent averages of corresponding block groups.

Low Response Score (LRS)

The LRS is a model-based prediction of low survey response rates by block group and tract that may be used separately or in conjunction with other planning database variables. In past census's this metric has also been described as "hard-to-count" (HTC) populations. You can read more about these variables here in Erdman and Bates 2017 . State and municipal values represent averages of corresponding block groups.

Other Indo-European language

The percentage of all ACS occupied housing units where an Indo-European language was assigned as the household language and no one ages 14 years and over speaks English only or speaks English 'very well'.

Other languages

The percentage of all ACS occupied housing units where a language other than English, Spanish, Indo-Euro, or API was assigned as the household language and no one ages 14 years and overspeaks English only or speaks English 'very well'.

Owner occupied housing

The percentage of ACS occupied housing units with an owner or co-owner living in it.

Renter occupied housing

The percentage of ACS occupied housing units that are not owner occupied, whether they are rented or occupied without payment of rent.

Spanish/Creole language

The percentage of all ACS occupied housing units where a Spanish or Spanish Creole language was assigned as the household language and no one ages 14 years and over speaks English only or speaks English 'very well'.

Single female household

The percentage of all ACS occupied housing units with a female householder and no husband of householder present.

Type of enumeration area

During the 2020 Census, every household will have the option of responding online, by mail, or by phone. 95% of households will receive their census invitations by mail (self-response), but almost 5% will receive theirs from a census taker who will personally drops it off at their home, a remainder of less than 1% will be counted in person by that census taker rather than given a self-response.

Update leave (UL) is designed to occur in areas where the majority of housing units either do not have mail delivered to the physical location of the housing unit, or the mail delivery information for the housing unit cannot be verified.

Massachusetts 2020 Census Planner
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Developed by Ken Lefebvre
with data support
provided by Matthew Schlaiker.

Data for municipalities taken from the American Community Survey 2017 via American Factfinder.