Table Codes

Detailed Tables

The bulk of the American Community Survey is the over 1400 detailed data tables. These tables have reference codes, and knowing how the codes are structured can be helpful in knowing which table to use.

Codes start with either the letter B or C, followed by two digits for the table subject, then 3 digits that uniquely identify the table. (For a small number of technical tables the unique identifier is 4 digits.) In some cases additional letters for racial iterations and Puerto Rico-specific tables.

Full and Collapsed Tables

Tables beginning with B have the most detailed column breakdown, while a C table for the same numbers will have fewer columns. For example, the B02003 table ("Detailed Race") has 71 columns, while the "collapsed version," C02003 has only 19 columns. While your instinct may be to want as much data as possible, sometimes choosing the C table can simplify your analysis.

Table subjects

The first two digits after B/C indicate the broad subject of a table. Note that many tables have more than one subject, but this reflects the main subject.

01

Age and Sex

02

Race

03

Hispanic Origin

04

Ancestry

05

Foreign Born; Citizenship; Year or Entry; Nativity

06

Place of Birth

07

Residence 1 Year Ago; Migration

08

Journey to Work; Workers' Characteristics; Commuting

09

Children; Household Relationship

10

Grandparents; Grandchildren

11

Household Type; Family Type; Subfamilies

12

Marital Status and History

13

Fertility

14

School Enrollment

15

Educational Attainment

16

Language Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English

17

Poverty

18

Disability

19

Income (Households and Families)

20

Earnings (Individuals)

21

Veteran Status

22

Transfer Programs (Public Assistance)

23

Employment Status; Work Experience; Labor Force

24

Industry; Occupation; Class of Worker

25

Housing Characteristics

26

Group Quarters

27

Health Insurance

Three groups of tables reflect technical details about how the Census is administered. In general, you probably don't need to look at these too closely, but if you need to check for possible weaknesses in your data analysis, they may come into play.

00

Unweighted Count

98

Quality Measures

99

Imputations

Race and Latino Origin

Many tables are provided in multiple racial tabulations. If a table code ends in a letter from A-I, that code indicates that the table universe is restricted to a subset based on responses to the race or Hispanic/Latino-origin questions. Here is a guide to those codes:

A

White alone

B

Black or African American Alone

C

American Indian and Alaska Native Alone

D

Asian Alone

E

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Alone

F

Some Other Race Alone

G

Two or More Races

H

White Alone, Not Hispanic or Latino

I

Hispanic or Latino

Other tables

There are a number of other ACS tables which the Census Bureau offers on American Fact Finder, but which are not available for bulk download. Because we can't get the bulk data, these tables are not directly included in Census Reporter, but you might want to know about them.

DP: Data Profiles

The data profile (DP) tables provide a lot of popular statistics across subjects in a single table. The Census Reporter "Place profile" pages are modeled off of the DP tables, although we've added charts and made some alternate choices. The ACS produces the following DP tables for most geographies:

DP02

Selected Social Characteristics in the US

DP02PR

Selected Social Characteristics in Puerto Rico

DP03

Selected Economic Characteristics

DP04

Selected Housing Characteristics

DP05

ACS Demographic and Housing Characteristics

S: Subject tables

The subject tables are another collection of similar top-level statistics which may be more easily digested than the full detailed tables. As with data profiles, you must use American Fact Finder to get these tables.

S0101

Age And Sex

S0102

Population 60 Years And Over In The United States

S0103

Population 65 Years And Over In The United States

S0201

Selected Population Profile In The United States

S0501

Selected Characteristics Of The Native And Foreign-born Populations

S0502

Selected Characteristics Of The Foreign-born Population By Period Of Entry Into The United States

S0503

Selected Characteristics Of The Foreign-born Population By Region Of Birth: Europe

S0504

Selected Characteristics Of The Foreign-born Population By Region Of Birth: Africa, Northern America, And Oceania

S0505

Selected Characteristics Of The Foreign-born Population By Region Of Birth: Asia

S0506

Selected Characteristics Of The Foreign-born Population By Region Of Birth: Latin America

S0601

Selected Characteristics Of The Total And Native Populations In The United States

S0701

Geographic Mobility By Selected Characteristics In The United States

S0801

Commuting Characteristics By Sex

S0802

Means Of Transportation To Work By Selected Characteristics

S0804

Means Of Transportation To Work By Selected Characteristics For Workplace Geography

S0901

Children Characteristics

S0902

Characteristics Of Teenagers 15 To 19 Years Old

S1001

Grandchildren Characteristics

S1002

Grandparents

S1101

Households And Families

S1201

Marital Status

S1251

Characteristics Of People With A Marital Event In The Last 12 Months

S1301

Fertility

S1401

School Enrollment

S1501

Educational Attainment

S1601

Language Spoken At Home

S1602

No One Age 14 And Over Speaks English Only Or Speaks English Very Well

S1603

Characteristics Of People By Language Spoken At Home

S1701

Poverty Status In The Past 12 Months

S1702

Poverty Status In The Past 12 Months Of Families

S1703

Selected Characteristics Of People At Specified Levels Of Poverty In The Past 12 Months

S1810

Disability Characteristics

S1811

Selected Economic Characteristics For The Civilian Noninstitutionalized Population By Disability Status

S1901

Income In The Past 12 Months

S1902

Mean Income In The Past 12 Months

S1903

Median Income In The Past 12 Months

S2001

Earnings In The Past 12 Months

S2101

Veteran Status

S2201

Food Stamps/SNAP

S2301

Employment Status

S2302

Employment Characteristics Of Families

S2303

Work Status In The Past 12 Months

S2401

Occupation By Sex And Median Earnings In The Past 12 Months For The Civilian Employed Population 16 Years And Over

S2402

Occupation By Sex And Median Earnings In The Past 12 Months For Full-time, Year-round Civilian Employed Population 16 Years And Over

S2403

Industry By Sex And Median Earnings In The Past 12 Months For The Civilian Employed Population 16 Years And Over

S2404

Industry By Sex And Median Earnings In The Past 12 Months For The Full-time, Year-round Civilian Employed Population 16 Years And Over

S2405

Industry By Occupation For The Civilian Employed Population 16 Years And Over

S2406

Occupation By Class Of Worker For The Civilian Employed Population 16 Years And Over

S2407

Industry By Class Of Worker For The Civilian Employed Population 16 Years And Over

S2408

Class Of Worker By Sex And Median Earnings In The Past 12 Months For The Civilian Employed Population 16 Years And Over

S2409

Class Of Worker By Sex And Median Earnings In The Past 12 Months For The Full-time, Year-round Civilian Employed Population 16 Years And Over

S2501

Occupancy Characteristics

S2502

Demographic Characteristics For Occupied Housing Units

S2503

Financial Characteristics

S2504

Physical Housing Characteristics For Occupied Housing Units

S2506

Financial Characteristics For Housing Units With A Mortgage

S2507

Financial Characteristics For Housing Units Without A Mortgage

S2701

Health Insurance Coverage Status

S2702

Selected Characteristics Of The Uninsured In The United States

GCT: Geographic Comparison

The Geographic Comparison tables take a single statistic and list its value for a number of similar geographies. For example, you can download the median monthly housing costs for major cities in the US in a single file, or you can download the same housing costs estimates for all states in the US.

The American Fact Finder lists over 1200 of these files (in part because each statistic is offered in more than a dozen variations), so we don't have a list for you, but you can find them directly in the Fact Finder's "advanced search." Just go to the Topics section, and look under "Product Type."