Data Releases and Methodology
Following the practice of the U.S. Census Bureau, each year IECAM demographers prepare a “data release” that includes the new data for the most recently available year plus updated data for the previous several years. Each year’s release is slightly more accurate than the previous year. The five-year span is based on IECAM’s use of the 5-year ACS (American Community Survey) as one of its principal demographic data sources.
Note: The names of the data releases listed on this page were changed in July 2014. Previously, IECAM had named the release after the year in which the data were released, rather than the year of the data themselves. For example, the 2011 release which reports data for 2011 in year 2013 was formerly called the 2013 release.
Thus the label “2013 Data Release” means “first time release of demographic data for 2013.”
Data for a given year are released two years after the data year. The new naming convention is more in keeping with the naming conventions of the Census Bureau.