With the Census Bureau getting ready to release its 2010 data, population and housing characteristics based on data collected from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2009 is now available.

The "American Community Survey" consists of about 11.1 billion individual estimates, covering more than 670,000 distinct geographies. The 5-year ACS estimates provide information on topics ranging from commute times to languages spoken at home to housing values.

Although the survey itself is nothing new, what's new this year is detailed data for communities with populations less than 20,000.

Arnold Weinfeld covers federal issues for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at 517-908-0304 or by e-mail.

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