Error in 2017 ACS data

Yesterday’s Philadelphia Inquirer posted an article that began: “On Wednesday, the U.S. Census Bureau explained that it identified a massive error in data it collected on Philadelphia’s populace in 2017, including aspects of poverty, income, employment, health insurance, rent, and more.”

How should we proceed in using the 2017 ACS data available from IPUMS? thank you.

Allen Glicksman

It looks like the Philadelphia Inquirer article is referencing this note from the Census Bureau released on September 23. It sounds like the error in question stems from an issue experienced during the data collection process. As this note states, the affected estimates relate to the published statistics at the county, city, and metropolitan area level around Philadelphia and do not influence national, regional, or state-level statistics. We will keep an eye out for any additional updates from the Census Bureau regarding this issue, specifically as it relates to the public use microdata. You can follow any updates to IPUMS USA data on this page.