Interstate Migration Data in the American Community Survey and Decennial Census: An Exploratory Comparison

James Lee, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

Research for this poster represents a first step towards the intended goal of incorporating interstate migration rates, based on decennial census and American Community Survey (ACS) data, into state-level population estimation methods used by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for certain foreign-born population groups. However, because the decennial census and ACS collected data for different migration intervals, further assessment of the comparability of the two data sources is needed. In this exploratory analysis of 2005-2009 ACS and 1990 and 2000 census data, I construct in-, out-, and net interstate migration rates for the foreign-born and native-born populations in five major immigrant-receiving states and compare 1) patterns of one-year rates from five years of ACS data and 2) patterns of one-year rates with those of five-year rates from the 1990 and 2000 censuses. The poster will present data analysis results, key findings, and future research towards the above stated goal.