The U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) 1-Year Estimates for 2013 were released on September 18, 2014. The ACS data release contains social, housing, economic and demographic information for metropolitan areas, and jurisdictions with more than 65,000 people. This new data set reveals numerous interesting changes that are occurring in the Hampton Roads community.*

Social characteristics that experienced notable changes within the region include the percent of the population that has attained at least high school equivalence climbed from 89.9% in 2012 to 90.7% in 2013. The civilian veteran population declined from 17.2% to 16.2%. The number of individuals with disabilities increased from 10.6% to 11.4%, which appeared to result from an increase in the number of individuals aged 18-64 with disabilities. That group increased from 8.6% of the population to 9.7% in 2013.

Commuting patterns shifted between 2012 and 2013, as the number of workers who drove alone to work increased from 80.9% to 81.9%, while those who worked from home dropped by 4.3% to 3.4%.

Regionally, the percentage that had health insurance fell from 88.5% to 87.5% in 2013.

Two interesting trends emerged in the housing market, as the median owner costs dropped from $1,664 to $1,609 per month, and as the rental vacancy rate increased from 6.4% to 8.4% in 2013.

The range of data provided to the ACS gives policymakers and citizens valuable information with which to make decisions about the region. The link below will provide access to four documents that provide data on the social, economic, housing and demographic characteristics for the region for each year from 2009 to 2013, as well as changes from 2012 to 2013 that were statistically significant.

http://www.hrpdcva.gov/page/locality-profiles/

*Census information is derived from estimates produced by survey data, which have a calculated margin of error. For estimates to be considered to have a statistically significant change, the Census Bureau requires that there be a 90% chance that the change in the number was not caused by the margin of errors.