Economic Summaries (2005-2009)

The American Community Survey (ACS) is a nationwide survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau that is designed to provide communities a fresh look at how they are changing. It is a critical element in the Census Bureau's reengineered decennial census program, incorporating the detailed socioeconomic and housing questions that were previously asked on the decennial census long form into the ACS questionnaire. The ACS now collects and produces this detailed population and housing information every year instead of every ten years. Data are collected on an on-going basis throughout the year and are released each year for large geographic areas, those with 65,000 persons or more. However, sample sizes are not large enough for annual releases that cover smaller areas, those with less than 65,000 persons. Data that are suitable for areas with 20,000 to 65,000 persons are accumulated over three years and termed a three-year period estimate, the first of which was for the 2005-2007 period. Data that are suitable for areas with less than 20,000 persons are accumulated over five years and termed a five-year period estimate, the first of which was for the 2005-2009 period. The data in this series of RGIS Clearinghouse tables are for all New Mexico counties and are based on the 2005-2009 ACS Five-Year Period Estimates collected between January 2005 and December 2009. These data tables are a summary of all major economic topics published through the ACS, providing statistics on employment status, commuting to work, occupation, industry, class of worker, household income distributions, household income by type, family income distributions, nonfamily household income, incomes of individuals, and family and person poverty rates. Percentages are shown along with numeric estimates for most data items. Because the data are based on a sample the Census Bureau also provides information about the magnitude of sampling error. Consequently, the estimated margin of error (MOE) is shown next to each data item. Each economic topic is covered in a separate file in both Excel and CSV formats. These files, along with file-specific descriptions (in Word and text formats) are available in a single zip file.