American Community Survey

American Community Survey (ACS) data are used in federal, state, and local programs to assist tribal governments. All communities, including those with American Indian and Alaska Native residents, will benefit from the ACS. Participating in the ACS is important.

Data from the American Community Survey helps your community. The information that the Census Bureau collects helps to determine how more that $400 billion dollars of federal funding each year is spent on infrastructure and services.

Participating in the American Community Survey is safe. All Census Bureau employees take an oath of nondisclosure and are sworn for life to protect the confidentiality of the data. Violating the oath is a serious crime. The penalty for unlawful disclosure is a fine of up to $250,000 or imprisonment of up to 5 years, or both.

Tribal government officials: We need your help! Encourage people to respond to the American Community Survey. The ACS is sent to a small number of addresses and the responses represent the entire community. Participating in the ACS is very important and every response improves the quality of our data. Learn more by downloading our American Indian and Alaska Native Factsheet [PDF 800KB] or visit How to respond.

Find out the reason behind each individual question in Questions on the form and why we ask.

Need help getting, interpreting, or using data on American Indians and Alaska Natives?

• Call the Census Bureau's Customer Service Center at 301-763-INFO (4636) or 1-800-923-8282
• Consult the handbook, A Compass for Understanding and Using American Community Suvery Data: What Users of Data for American Indians and Alaska Natives Need to Know [PDF 1.6MB]

American Community Survey data are used to support the:

• Civil Rights Act
• Home Mortgage Disclosure Act
• Indian Health Care Improvement Act
• Native American Programs Act
• Public Health Service Act
• Veterans Benefits Improvement Act
• Workforce Investment Act

American Community Survey data are used to administer:

• Federal Affirmative Employment Plans
• Higher Education and Student Assistance Programs
• National Affordable Housing, Subchapter I
• Nutritional Education Program
• State Children's Health Insurance Program

[PDF] or denotes a file in Adobe’s Portable Document Format. To view the file, you will need the Adobe® Reader® available free from Adobe. This symbol indicates a link to a non-government web site. Our linking to these sites does not constitute an endorsement of any products, services or the information found on them. Once you link to another site you are subject to the policies of the new site.