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This paper highlights the benefits of using the American Community Survey (ACS) including the ability to analyze data at the state and national levels, as well as explore the relationship between socio-economic characteristics and changing family structure. The following family structure variables are explored in the paper: estimated median age at first marriage, married and unmarried couple households, and women with a birth in the last year. In order to approximate the quality of the fully implemented ACS 2005 survey of 3 million households, 4 years (2000-2003) of ACS data are used. (Author abstract).