The data contained in this chartbook come from the 2007-2011 American Community Survey. While the types of demographic and housing data included in Chapters 1 through 4 were also collected in the 2010 decennial census, the types of social and economic data included in Chapters 5 through 8 were not. This is because unlike previous censuses—which consisted of a “short form” of basic demographic and housing questions and a “long form” (used for a sample of households) that also asked detailed questions about social, economic, and housing characteristics—the 2010 census only had a short form.
The decennial long form has been replaced by the American Community Survey (ACS), a nationwide study collected continuously every year in every county in the United States. The ACS is designed to provide communities with reliable and timely demographic, social, economic, and housing data each year. However, the annual sample size of the ACS is much smaller than the sample size of the decennial census long form; therefore, data from five years must be combined to provide reliable estimates for geographic areas with fewer than 20,000 people. Since a number of counties in the Appalachian region have fewer than 20,000 residents, we must use the 2007-2011 ACS data to have comparable statistics for all 420 counties in the region.