community analyst population number for 2010 place does not match with ACS

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01-11-2018 12:08 PM
Jeff_RParkey
New Contributor

When we back check the 2010 population number Community Analyst provides for our census place of interest with ACS, they are not the same. However, for 2015 they are the same. Why so?

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LucyGuerra
Esri Contributor

Hi Jeff

There are a couple of things that could impact comparisons like this.

 

First is the data source. Esri’s Updated Demographics and the Census Bureau’s ACS data are different. ACS data is an input to Esri’s Updated Demographics, but it is just one input of many. Esri uses a variety of sources to model estimates. More about this in the 2017 Esri Updated Demographics Methodology. In addition, ACS data is a rolling average value based on a series of data collected by month. (ACS 2011-2015 data is an average of 60 months of data from 2011 to 2015.) Esri’s Updated Demographics represent a point in time: July 1 of the update year.

 

Second, are the areas of interest. If there were any changes in the boundaries in that time, this would change the associated demographic values.

Thanks,

Lucy

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