Questions about educational attainment are asked to create statistics about education. "Local, state, tribal, and federal agencies use education data to measure changes in education over time, evaluate the educational attainment of the workforce, and understand the continuing education needs of adults" (source: https://www.census.gov/acs/www/about/why-we-ask-each-question/education/).

Survey, via mail to specific addresses

3.5 million addresses nationwide are randomly selected each year to respond to the American Community Survey. More information about sample sizes are available here: https://www.census.gov/acs/www/methodology/sample_size_and_data_quality/

Random sampling method of data collection on a rotating basis, participants are legally obligated to answer all questions as accurately as possible. Privacy is protected by the Census Bureau. There is a 90% margin of error for the ACS in general, however, there is also a unique margin of error for each statistic.

The data is publicly available and may be used for cross-community comparisons by the public, journalists, educators, businesses, and various government and nonprofit agencies.