# Why is ACS data reported for 2006-2010 when I just asked for 2010?

**URL:** <https://forum.ipums.org/t/why-is-acs-data-reported-for-2006-2010-when-i-just-asked-for-2010/1724>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [May 3, 2017, 5:29pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/why-is-acs-data-reported-for-2006-2010-when-i-just-asked-for-2010/1724 "2017-05-03T17:29:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![davidboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c77e96/32.png) [@davidboon](https://forum.ipums.org/u/davidboon)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 5:29pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/why-is-acs-data-reported-for-2006-2010-when-i-just-asked-for-2010/1724/1 "2017-05-03T17:29:00Z")

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Sorry this is I’m sure a pretty dumb question since I am pretty new to IPUMS –

I’m interested in census tract level data on age distribution, educational attainment, household income etc. as of 2010. I specified the year 2010 in IPUMS for my data download. But when I open the dataset I downloaded, the year is listed as 2006-10, not just 2010. The data source for the variables I downloaded is the ACS.

Two related questions:

- Is it possible to instead have a snapshot as of 2010, rather than this average? If so, what should I have done differently?

- What does 2006-10 mean in this context? Is the data reported a simple average of those five years?

Thanks to anyone who answers!!

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**Author:** ![davidboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c77e96/32.png) [@davidboon](https://forum.ipums.org/u/davidboon)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 5:37pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/why-is-acs-data-reported-for-2006-2010-when-i-just-asked-for-2010/1724/2 "2017-05-03T17:37:00Z")

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I guess I may have answered my own question – these are the five year ACS estimates, which are available for all census tracts. I could also download the one year estimates which are more timely but noisier, and possibly not available for all census tracts:

[https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/guidance/estimates.html](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/guidance/estimates.html)

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**Author:** ![JeffBloem](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.ipums.org/jeffbloem/32/40_2.png) [@JeffBloem](https://forum.ipums.org/u/JeffBloem)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2017, 3:27pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/why-is-acs-data-reported-for-2006-2010-when-i-just-asked-for-2010/1724/3 "2017-05-04T15:27:00Z")

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There are no such thing as dumb questions! Yes, I think you did answer your own question. It sounds like you downloaded the ACS 5yr sample spanning 2006-2010.