Lightcast's ACS Community Indicators data comes from the Census's American Community Survey (ACS) API. ACS Community Indicators data contains a number of metrics designed to allow users to gain a deeper understanding of a particular region. ACS indicators are divided into three categories: social characteristics, economic characteristics, and housing characteristics. Social characteristics examine things like family makeup and demographic metrics. Economic characteristics contain a number of different measures relating to income and work. Housing characteristics provide insights into rental vs. ownership, housing occupancy rates, and housing value.

Community Indicators data is based on ACS 5-year files, which are updated annually and usually published by the Census Bureau in December, and includes data for individual ZIP codes, Census Tracts, counties, MSAs, States, and the nation. If the data is released early enough in December, it is included in Lightcast's Q1 datarun released in January of the following year.

For more information on how Lightcast handles ACS MSA definitions when they are out of sync with the Census Bureau's latest MSA definitions, see this article.