Census Data: Housing

The AHS is sponsored by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. The survey is the most comprehensive national housing survey in the United States.

The AHS provides current information on a wide range of housing subjects, including size and composition of the nation’s housing inventory, vacancies, fuel usage, physical condition of housing units, characteristics of occupants, equipment breakdowns, home improvements, mortgages and other housing costs, persons eligible for and beneficiaries of assisted housing, home values, and characteristics of recent movers.

In addition to these core indicators, the 2011 AHS includes topical supplements on potential health and safety hazards in the home and modifications made to assist occupants living with disabilities. Mortgage questions have been redesigned, while selected neighborhood and journey to work questions were dropped from the 2011 survey altogether. These topical supplements will likely rotate back into the questionnaire in subsequent surveys.