Does my mom have to fill out the American Community Survey?

September 29, 2023 2:03 PM

My elderly mom received a survey which appears to be run by the US Census bureau. It says its the American Community Survey. She knows it's not a Census year and asked me for help as she thought it might be a scam. She finds the questions extremely intrusive and would rather not fill this out. Has anyone received this? Is it really compulsory or can she skip filling this out?
posted by vacapinta to Law & Government (22 answers total)

Yes, it seems to be legitimate, and not completing it may result in follow-up phone calls or an at-home visit.

https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2019/08/american-community-survey-legit#:~:text=If%20you%20don't%20complete,Census%20needs%20to%20clarify%20information.
posted by Silvery Fish at 2:10 PM on September 29, 2023

Most of your mom's questions are answered on the census website. Short answers: yes, it's legitimate; yes, it's required by law, yes, your privacy is protected.
posted by AzraelBrown at 2:11 PM on September 29, 2023

Yes, I've received it and yes it is compulsory:
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/about/acs-and-census.html
posted by the Real Dan at 2:12 PM on September 29, 2023

It is legally required (and also a good civic duty thing that's really important for collecting data that helps the government make decisions)! She's almost certainly not going to be prosecuted if she refuses to answer but it is likely to lead to an escalation to calls and in person visits.
posted by eponym at 2:13 PM on September 29, 2023

The American Community Survey is a legitimate survey that is conducted by the census bureau. The ACS is in fact part of the decennial census, even though it is not a "census year." Responses are legally required. The relevant laws supporting this are cited here: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/about/top-questions-about-the-survey.html.

The ACS replaces what was formerly called "the long form" of the census. You can read about this change here.

If your mom does not complete the survey, someone from the census bureau will visit her home and ask her the questions verbally. If she doesn't answer, she may be fined. Note that the last time someone was fined for not completing the census was in 1970.

For what it is worth, every respondent to the ACS is important because they represent other people who are like them, statically. The data helps the US government function and is extremely important.
posted by OrangeDisk at 2:16 PM on September 29, 2023

I missed the editing window. The second to last question should have said "For what it is worth, every respondent to the ACS is important because they represent other people who are like them, statistically." Sorry for the typo.
posted by OrangeDisk at 2:23 PM on September 29, 2023

Just chiming into say that ACS data is incredibly helpful in my field (urban planning) to understand where to prioritize funding (at a census tract level, we never get more granular data than that). Here are some examples of how ACS data is used to understand communities across the U.S.
posted by spamandkimchi at 2:27 PM on September 29, 2023

I’ve used ACS data too, though in my volunteer role and not in my day job. I know this doesn’t answer your question about legality, but hopefully it makes the enterprise seem more legit.
posted by eirias at 3:17 PM on September 29, 2023

I would focus on the fact that responding honestly doesn't take much time and the answers can only help people like her be represented in decision making.

If she doesn't respond, people like her get overlooked or missed. There's no downside, only benefit.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:43 PM on September 29, 2023

In a way, by answering the questions she's speaking for all of the older people in her community who did not receive the form. Explain to her that this helps local government and community organizations to meet the needs of people her age with programs like meals on wheels, transportation for appointments and errands, library services to shut-ins, affordable housing, tax relief for elderly homeowners, etc. etc.
posted by mareli at 6:20 PM on September 29, 2023

I was also sent one of the surveys, and found it to be highly intrusive and asking for details that I was not comfortable sharing. The downside to me is that it feels like a risk to send out such personal information that is tied to my name and address. I just wanted to say that I understand your mom’s concerns.
posted by sizeable beetle at 7:41 PM on September 29, 2023

Just adding that, as a historian, the ACS yields insight and data that no other source can provide . Filling it out is a (small d) democratic act that helps us develop better understanding of the nation’s historical conditions.
posted by Miko at 9:57 PM on September 29, 2023

Previously. See in particular the responses by duck. Please help her fill it out if necessary. It is important.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:17 AM on September 30, 2023

I also use ACS data in my field to help people! Just echoing that we really really value the data it produces and it really really is helpful for people who get it to complete it.
posted by bowtiesarecool at 11:41 AM on September 30, 2023

It depends on your mom's personality and willingness to stonewall the government asking intrusive questions. I would not answer any question I found intrusive. I would answer the questions I was comfortable with and deal with the phone calls (not answer) and the knock on my door (unlikely to answer). But, some people are not willing to oppose the government or risk the fine or imprisonment or whatever the consequences are. Which is your mom more afraid of, answering the intrusive questions or the consequences of not answering the intrusive questions?

This survey sounds like, "Hi we're from the government and we are here to help." With all due respect to the government, the last people I trust with my privacy is any government and big tech and small tech. The person I trust most with my privacy is me. Once I tell someone or some organization, it is no longer private.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 7:12 PM on September 30, 2023

This survey sounds like, "Hi we're from the government and we are here to help.“

This is exactly it! The ACS is used to help people! It’s used to make policy, distribute funds, is important in making politics more representative, etc. I’ve used it a ton in my research, which I do think helps people.

It’s no more instrusive than filling your taxes, which is another obligation citizens have.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 5:51 AM on October 1, 2023

I got that too and dear lord it is like a mortgage application if lenders were permitted to be really nosy about your ethnicity and that of all living under your roof.

And why can't they just call it the census long form? American Community Survey REALLY sounds scammy and I'm sure a lot of people throw it away without a thought.

I contacted all my congressional representatives to ask if I really had to fill it out and exactly one got back to me (dammit the one I am most politically unaligned with) and said yes and possible fines and so on.

Still I was going to throw it away, I like proper funding etc, but it was in fact time consuming and burdensome. But it made my husband too nervous not to, so he filled it out.
posted by Jenny'sCricket at 7:45 AM on October 1, 2023

From census.gov:
Our Privacy Principles: "Necessity: Do we need to ask this question? Do we need to collect this information? Openness: Do you know why we are collecting your information? Respectful Treatment of Respondents: Are our efforts reasonable and did we treat you with respect? Confidentiality: How do we protect your information?"

Statistical Safeguards: "Before we publish any statistic, we apply safeguards that help prevent someone from being able to trace that statistic back to a specific respondent."
posted by eponym at 8:54 AM on October 1, 2023

We got one of those, established it was legit, filled it out and sent it back.
posted by bluesky43 at 9:39 AM on October 1, 2023

Update: She will fill this out with help from a friend.

Thank you for all the responses, including the empathetic ones. My mom lives alone and I've taught her to be wary, which is a good thing. She is community-minded and even volunteers locally but getting this form stressed her out. Let me explain.

For those not familiar with the form, it is quite a scary thing. It asks for your name, exact DOB, employment details, exact salary, race, immigration status, health questions etc. The 'Race' part is always problematic. Latino is not considered a race, it explicitly says so and thats fine. But where does a Mexican draw the line between White (European) and Native American. I presume its the color of your skin. In which case my brother is White and I am Native American, illogically.

From a statistics point of view, I'd think that salary ranges and ages are pretty valuable - and something she would be more comfortable with - but this form asks you to fill in the exact amount of money (to the dollar) from various sources you make and also your exact date of birth. I find it difficult to believe the value of the data is significantly enhanced by knowing the day of the month people were born on.

I also want to stress that being asked for your immigration status is always frightening for an immigrant like my mom. It not only asks for your Citizenship but whether you were Naturalized and, if so, when? This also helps undercut the line that there are no Citizenship Tiers, all Citizens are equal. This is what we ask immigrants to believe.

So, yes, all sorts of problems with this. But she is doing it now because she is a good Citizen, even if a Naturalized one.
posted by vacapinta at 6:06 AM on October 2, 2023

I also want to stress that being asked for your immigration status is always frightening for an immigrant like my mom. It not only asks for your Citizenship but whether you were Naturalized and, if so, when? This also helps undercut the line that there are no Citizenship Tiers, all Citizens are equal. This is what we ask immigrants to believe.

I can speak a little to why this is useful. We know, for example, that immigrants are typically at their healthiest when they arrive and the longer they've been in the U.S. the less healthy they become (obviously one controls for age here). Knowing how long people have been in the U.S. helps to study those associations. Knowing when people naturalize helps understand immigration and naturalization processes and how different kinds of immigration processes and settlement policies support (or don't) that process

This isn't for anything about your mom. This is for aggregating and correlating. The point is not that there are multiple classes of citizens, the point is that citizens and non-citizens and naturalized vs. born citizens vs. long-time immigrants who have not naturalized can have very different experiences and you can't learn about those different experiences without collecting this kind of data.

Thank you to your mom for doing this.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 4:58 PM on October 2, 2023

Latino is not considered a race, it explicitly says so and thats fine. But where does a Mexican draw the line between White (European) and Native American. I presume its the color of your skin. In which case my brother is White and I am Native American, illogically.

Oh, and this is another question that can be studied using data like this. You may be interested to know that while Latino immigrants in the U.S. sometimes consider it illogical for siblings to be different races, those living in latin american may not. It's not necessarily assumed that siblings or family members are the same race because phenotype can vary, even within families. The same author has done work on how people answer the census question (presumably the same as the ACS question) when they feel like it doesn't fit, and how people's selection might vary from how others might see them. It's all very interesting and you need data to study it.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 6:02 PM on October 2, 2023