The Puerto Rico Community Survey (PRCS) is identical in most respects to the American Community Survey in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. There were no PRCS test surveys or test sites for Puerto Rico in 2000–2004, so that 2005 PRCS data are the first post-2000 long-form-type data available for Puerto Rico.

Following the same basic design as the ACS, the initial sample size of the PRCS is 3,000 housing units each month or 36,000 housing units each year—about 2.4 percent of the total of about 1.5 million residential addresses in Puerto Rico. Initial sampling rates for blocks vary by the estimate of occupied housing units in the governmental jurisdiction or census tract (see Table 2-3, Part A), although the PRCS rates are slightly higher than the ACS rates (see U.S. Census Bureau, 2006:Table 4.1).

Data collection in the PRCS uses mailout, CATI, and CAPI, like the ACS. However, because of low mail response, all mailout/CATI nonrespondents are sampled at a 50 percent rate for the CAPI follow-up as of June 2005.

Areas for which PRCS products are published include:

• 78 municipios (county equivalents): 12 will have 1-year estimates; 65 will have 3-year estimates

• 455 barrios (subdivisions of municipios, similar to minor civil divisions): 5 will have 1-year estimates; 34 will have 3-year estimates (based on 2000 census counts)

• 225 zonas urbanas (census designated places that are governmental centers of municipios) and communidads (other census designated places): 9 will have 1-year estimates; 20 will have 3-year estimates (based on 2000 census counts)

• 871 census tracts and 2,477 block groups (5-year estimates only)

The PRCS is explained in greater detail by U.S. Census Bureau (2006).