[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 88 (Thursday, May 8, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19463-19465]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-08019]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Census Bureau
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment
Request; The American Community Survey (ACS) and Puerto Rico Community
Survey (PRCS)
The Department of Commerce will submit the following information
collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for
review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite the
general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and
continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of
our information collection requirements and minimize the public's
reporting burden. Public comments were previously requested via the
Federal Register on November 5, 2024, during a 60-day comment period.
This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
Title: The American Community Survey and the Puerto Rico Community
Survey.
OMB Control Number: 0607-0810.
Form Number(s): ACS-1, ACS-1(SP), ACS-1(PR), ACS-1(PR)SP, ACS-
1(GQ), ACS-1(PR)(GQ), ACS Housing Unit internet electronic instrument
(no form number), ACS nonresponse follow up CAPI (Computer Assisted
Personal Interview) electronic instrument (no form number), ACS Failed
Edit Follow up CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone
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Interview) electronic instrument (no form number), ACS Telephone
Questionnaire Assistance CATI electronic instrument (no form number),
ACS Group Quarters internet listing instrument (no form number), ACS
Group Quarters Facility Questionnaire CAPI GQFQ electronic instrument
(no form number), ACS Group Quarters internet electronic instrument (no
form number), ACS Group Quarters Resident CAPI electronic instrument
(no form number). ACS Reinterview CATI/CAPI HU RI electronic instrument
(no form number), ACS Reinterview CATI/CAPI GQ RI electronic instrument
(no form number).
Type of Request: Regular submission. Request for an extension.
Number of Respondents: 3,576,000 for household respondents; 20,100
for facility contacts in group quarters; 153,600 people in group
quarters; 22,875 households for reinterview; and 1,422 group quarters
facility contacts for reinterview. The total estimated number of
respondents is 3,773,997.
Average Hours per Response: 40 minutes for the average household
questionnaire; 15 minutes for a group quarters facility contact
questionnaire; 25 minutes for a group quarters person questionnaire; 10
minutes for a household reinterview; 10 minutes for a group quarters
facility contact reinterview.
Burden Hours: 2,384,000 for household respondents; 5,025 for
contacts in group quarters; 64,000 for group quarters residents; 3,813
households for reinterview; and 237 group quarters contacts for
reinterview. The estimate is an annual average of 2,457,075 burden
hours.
Needs and Uses: The U.S. Census Bureau requests authorization from
the OMB for revisions to the ACS. The ACS is one of the Department of
Commerce's most valuable data products, used extensively by businesses,
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), local governments, and many
federal agencies. In conducting this survey, the Census Bureau's top
priority is respecting the time and privacy of the people providing
information while preserving its value to the public.
ACS Background
The Census Bureau developed the ACS to collect and update
demographic, social, economic, and housing data every year that are
essentially the same as the ``long-form'' data that the Census Bureau
formerly collected once a decade as part of the census. The ACS is an
ongoing monthly survey that collects detailed data from about 3.54
million addresses in the United States and about 36,000 addresses in
Puerto Rico each year. The ACS also collects detailed socioeconomic
data from about 153,000 residents living in group quarters facilities
in the United States and about 600 in Puerto Rico. The ACS is the only
source of comparable data about social, economic, housing, and
demographic characteristics for small areas and small subpopulations
across the nation and in Puerto Rico. Every community in the nation
continues to receive a detailed, statistical portrait of its social,
economic, housing, and demographic characteristics each year through
one-year and five-year ACS products.
ACS Contact Strategies for Housing Units
To collect ACS data, the Census Bureau uses a well-researched mail
contact strategy to encourage self-response to the survey. For
addresses that were mailed survey materials but did not respond by
mail, internet, or by calling our telephone questionnaire assistance
line, the Census Bureau selects a subsample of all households and
assigns them to the nonresponse follow-up data collection operation.
Unmailable household addresses are sampled and also included in the
nonresponse follow-up data collection operation.
To encourage self-response in the ACS, the Census Bureau sends up
to five mailings to housing units selected to be in the sample. The
first mailing, sent to all mailable addresses in the sample, includes
an invitation to participate in the ACS online and states that a paper
questionnaire will be sent in a few weeks to those unable to respond
online. The second mailing is a letter that reminds respondents to
complete the survey online, thanks them if they have already done so,
and informs them that a paper questionnaire will be sent at a later
date if the Census Bureau does not receive their response. In a third
mailing, the paper questionnaire package is sent only to those sample
addresses that have not completed the online questionnaire within two
and a half weeks. The fourth mailing is a postcard that reminds
respondents to respond and informs them that an interviewer may contact
them if they do not complete the survey. A fifth mailing is a letter
sent to respondents who have not completed the survey within five
weeks. This letter provides a due date and reminds the respondents to
complete their survey to be removed from future contact. The Census
Bureau will ask those who fill out the survey online to provide an
email address, which will be used to send an email reminder to
respondents who started but did not complete the online form. The
reminder asks them to log back in to finish responding to the survey.
If the Census Bureau does not receive a response or if the household
refuses to participate, the address may be selected for nonresponse
follow-up data collection where the interview can be collected by
telephone or personal visit using computer-assisted interviewing.
Some addresses are deemed unmailable because the address is
incomplete or directs mail only to a post office box. The Census Bureau
currently collects data for these housing units in the nonresponse
follow-up data collection using online, computer-assisted personal
interviewing, and computer-assisted telephone interviewing. A small
sample of respondents from the nonresponse follow-up data collection
interview are recontacted for quality assurance purposes.
PRCS Contact Strategies for Housing Units
For sample housing units in the Puerto Rico Community Survey, a
different mail strategy is employed. The Census Bureau sends up to five
mailings to a Puerto Rico address selected to be in the sample. The
first mailing includes a prenotice letter. The second and fourth
mailings include the paper questionnaire. The third and fifth mailings
serve as a reminder to respond to the survey. The mail strategy has no
references to an internet response option. If the Census Bureau does
not receive a response or if the household refuses to participate, the
address may be selected for nonresponse follow-up data collection where
the interview can be collected by telephone or personal visit using
computer-assisted interviewing technology.
The Puerto Rico addresses deemed unmailable because the address is
incomplete or directs mail only to a post office box are collected by
telephone or person visit using computer-assisted interviewing
technology during nonresponse follow-up data collection. A small sample
of respondents from the nonresponse follow-up data collection interview
are recontacted for quality assurance purposes.
ACS and PRCS Contact Strategy for Group Quarters
The Census Bureau collects data for group quarters through personal
interview, online, or by paper. The Census Bureau can obtain the
facility information by allowing the group quarters contact to upload
the roster of residents online or by conducting a
[[Page 19465]]
personal visit interview with a group quarters contact. Once the
interviewer obtains the roster of residents, they randomly select
residents for person-level interviews. During the person-level phase, a
computer-assisted personal interviewing instrument is used to collect
detailed information for each sampled resident. Interviewers also have
the option to distribute a bilingual (English/Spanish) questionnaire to
residents for self-response if they are unable to complete a computer-
assisted personal interviewing interview. Residents in some group
quarters types have the option to self-respond to the survey online. A
small sample of respondents are recontacted for quality assurance
purposes.
Statistics produced from the ACS program may include a combination
of data collected on the survey from respondents as well as
administrative data from other sources.
Affected Public: Individuals or households.
Frequency: Monthly.
Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C. 141, 193, 221, and 223.
This information collection request may be viewed at
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view the Department of
Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.
Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information
collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of
this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.
Find this particular information collection by selecting ``Currently
under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search
function and entering either the title of the collection or the OMB
Control Number 0607-0810.
Sheleen Dumas,
Departmental PRA Compliance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2025-08019 Filed 5-7-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P