31 American Community Survey Questions: Types & Expert Tips

Housing Characteristics Question Set

Why & When to Use

Ever wonder why city planners, developers, or grant writers spend hours poring over housing data? It’s because housing tenure surveys and housing quality questions reveal everything from overcrowding to affordability. The American Community Survey housing section provides a blueprint for understanding neighborhood needs, zoning decisions, and housing market dynamics.

These questions are especially potent for:

• Neighborhood revitalization assessments.
• Planning applications for HUD and other housing grants.
• Disaster recovery planning and post-catastrophe rebuilding.
• Long-term real estate studies and affordable housing proposals.

Housing data answers key questions for local governments—not just “who lives here,” but “how do they live?” Identifying gaps in quality, number of rooms, or facilities available helps you advocate for new developments or repairs. It also signals where public policy can make a real difference.

Utilize this section when you need to:

• Describe the state of homes in a particular place.
• Apply for housing-specific funding.
• Spot trends in property tenure or structural age.
• Identify housing gaps that impact vulnerable populations.

Housing questions are vital for anyone interested in place-making or improving communities block by block!

5 Sample Housing Questions

1. Do you own or rent this house, apartment, or mobile home?
   
2. How many separate housing units are in this building?
   
3. What year was this house or apartment built?
   
4. How many rooms are in this house or apartment, not counting bathrooms?
   
5. Does your household have complete plumbing and kitchen facilities? (Yes/No)

The American Community Survey's housing questions are essential for understanding housing affordability, planning community development, and ensuring equal opportunity. (census.gov)

Economic & Income Question Set

Why & When to Use

Income survey items and employment status questions aren’t just about dollars and cents—they tell the story of a community’s well-being. The ACS economic data drives decision-making for economic development, poverty alleviation, and workforce initiatives.

Use these questions when:

• Planning or applying for economic development incentives.
• Calculating community poverty rates.
• Designing new workforce training programs or job fairs.
• Performing pre-grant baseline studies or yearly community needs assessments.

This section is essential for digging into how economic variables impact daily life. Are residents employed or struggling to find work? What industries keep the local economy humming? Understanding class of worker and total household income lets you target interventions where they matter most.

Include these questions in:

• Annual public benefits reviews.
• Career pathway or adult education assessments.
• Economic resilience planning, such as in times of recession or after major economic shocks.

If you need community-level economic intelligence, these items deliver the goods. Don’t overlook their power—they shape everything from tax base projections to business attraction strategies.

5 Sample Economic Questions

1. What is your current employment status? (Employed, Unemployed, Not in labor force)
   
2. What is your principal occupation?
   
3. In what industry do you currently work?
   
4. Are you a private wage and salary worker, government employee, self-employed, or unpaid family worker?
   
5. What was the total income of all persons in this household in the past 12 months?

Educational Attainment & School Enrollment Question Set

Why & When to Use

Questions about education level survey and school enrollment questionnaire items unlock key insights for school district planning, adult education, and workforce strategy. The ACS education tables are like a roadmap for talent pipelines and community learning needs.

Deploy these whenever:

• Planning for future school capacity or redistricting.
• Designing adult education or high school equivalency programs.
• Conducting workforce readiness assessments for regional employers.
• Surveying parents and students during back-to-school seasons.

This data illuminates where student populations are rising, where adults might need retraining, and how educational background influences job prospects. Granular info on highest grade completed or current enrollment shapes funding priorities for school boards and community colleges.

Perfect for:

• Community college outreach and regional economic planning.
• Identifying gaps in degree fields or skill areas.
• Supporting grant applications and educational improvement plans.

With educational attainment data, you can champion access to learning, drive investment in training, and better meet your community’s needs.

5 Sample Education Questions

1. What is the highest grade or level of school you have completed?
   
2. What was your field of degree?
   
3. Are you currently enrolled in school or college?
   
4. Is the school you attend public or private?
   
5. What is your current grade level or year of attendance?

In 2022, 37.7% of U.S. adults aged 25 and older held at least a bachelor's degree, a figure statistically unchanged from 2020. (test.census.gov)

Migration & Journey-to-Work Question Set

Why & When to Use

Commuting survey questions and migration patterns survey items reveal how people move—across states, between neighborhoods, and even across town for work. The ACS journey-to-work section is gold for anyone in transportation, urban planning, or real estate.

Turn to these questions for:

• Regional transportation planning and carpool program design.
• Applying for transit funding or conducting route studies.
• Analyzing relocation trends for housing or real estate forecasting.
• Assessments of traffic congestion, rush hour planning, and commutes that make or break daily routines.

Understanding commute mode and travel time can help shape smarter transit investments or identify needs for new bike lanes, bus stops, or park-and-ride facilities. Want to know how work-from-home trends have changed traffic? These are your go-to questions.

Use migration data to:

• Track who is moving into or out of your region.
• Analyze the impact of new job centers or housing developments.
• Support grant applications for public transportation upgrades.

You’ll get a window into how mobility shapes local economies, educational opportunities, and work-life balance.

5 Sample Migration/Commuting Questions

1. Where did you live one year ago? (Specify city, county, and state)
   
2. What was your main means of transportation to work last week? (Car, bus, train, walk, bicycle, worked from home)
   
3. How long did it usually take you to get from home to work last week?
   
4. At what time did you usually leave home to go to work last week?
   
5. How many people, including yourself, usually rode to work in the vehicle last week?

Health Insurance & Disability Question Set

Why & When to Use

Disability prevalence survey and health coverage questionnaire items are essential for public health, hospital planning, and accessibility initiatives. The ACS disability questions serve as the foundation for everything from Medicaid outreach to ADA compliance mapping.

Best used when:

• Conducting public health needs assessments or planning new clinics.
• Writing hospital community-benefit reports.
• Identifying accessibility shortcomings for ADA upgrades.
• Preparing for health grant applications or annual insurance reviews.

These questions help highlight where health system investments are necessary. Are there clusters of uninsured residents? Where are hearing, cognitive, or ambulatory difficulties most common? Knowledge like this drives funding, outreach, and program design.

Include in:

• Hospital service planning or nonprofit health initiatives.
• Accessibility audits for public spaces, transit, or buildings.
• Monitoring the effectiveness of health insurance expansion efforts.

With accurate data on insurance type or disability, you empower policymakers and advocates alike to remove barriers and bolster safety nets.

5 Sample Health/Disability Questions

1. What type of health insurance coverage do you currently have? (Employer, Medicaid, Medicare, Private, None)
   
2. Were you uninsured at any time in the last 12 months?
   
3. Do you have serious difficulty hearing, even when using a hearing aid? (Yes/No)
   
4. Because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition, do you have serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions? (Yes/No)
   
5. Do you have serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs? (Yes/No)

Technology & Internet Access Question Set

Why & When to Use

Internet access survey and digital equity questions have become pivotal as connectivity shapes everything from school to shopping. The ACS broadband data offers a digital cross-section of households, spotlighting barriers and powering innovation.

Use these questions for:

• Digital divide studies in urban and rural settings.
• Broadband grant applications to expand internet infrastructure.
• Gauging remote learning or work-from-home readiness for school districts and employers.
• Informing smart-city initiatives, rural connectivity campaigns, or telemedicine investments.

These items make it clear who can access digital opportunities and who is left buffering. Details on smartphone or computer availability spotlight gaps and help planners prioritize infrastructure upgrades.

Ideal during:

• Community technology assessments.
• Rural broadband planning and advocacy.
• Measuring impacts of new digital inclusion policies.

With a little broadband know-how, you’ll bridge gaps for students, businesses, and entire communities.

5 Sample Technology Questions

1. Does anyone in this household own or use a desktop or laptop computer? (Yes/No)
   
2. Does anyone in this household have a smartphone? (Yes/No)
   
3. Is there a broadband internet subscription in this household? (Yes/No)
   
4. Does your household have a data-only cellular plan? (Yes/No)
   
5. Are there any limits on the amount of internet usage in your household? (Yes/No)

Best Practices: Dos and Don’ts for Using ACS-Inspired Questions

Dos

Survey design isn’t just about asking questions—it’s about asking the right ones, the right way. To honor the spirit of the ACS questionnaire tips, stick to a few golden rules:

• Keep ACS wording whenever possible to ensure results are comparable to national data.
• Pre-test your survey locally to troubleshoot misunderstanding or skip patterns before launch.
• Respect skip logic, so respondents only answer relevant items and avoid confusion or fatigue.
• Update with the latest Census revisions each year to maintain the gold standard of accuracy.
• Ensure respondent confidentiality and data security, especially with sensitive topics.

Don’ts

Even seasoned researchers can make classic errors. Dodge these common survey mistakes if you want meaningful, credible outcomes:

• Don’t overload respondents—fewer, higher-quality questions are better than pages of fluff.
• Never alter ACS definitions, like changing the income time-frame, or you’ll muddy your data pool.
• Don’t ignore weighting schemes needed for accurate population estimates.
• Avoid combining disparate time periods (e.g., last year’s vs. last month’s data) in a single analysis.
• Don’t omit necessary explanatory notes—unclear items confuse participants and can tank response rates.

Following these survey design best practices means your work will stand up to scrutiny, support actionable insights, and (maybe most importantly) make survey-takers smile.

In summary, like a Swiss Army knife, the American Community Survey offers well-honed tools for every data need—from demographics to the digital divide. Use ACS-inspired questions for policymaking, grant-writing, or any project needing community-level insights. Pair consistent wording with local know-how for survey results that shine. With thoughtful question design, your next survey could be the spark for serious community change. Happy surveying!