US Census Bureau Metadata API

openapi: 3.1.0
info:
  title: Business Dynamics Statistics 2010 Metadata API
  description: 'Time-series API providing annual measures of establishment and firm

    dynamics for the United States — births, deaths, expansions, contractions,

    job creation, and job destruction — from 1978 through the latest reference

    year. Supports breakdowns by firm age, firm size, sector, state, and metro

    area.


    Endpoint family: `/data/timeseries/bds`.

    '
  version: '2026-05-25'
  contact:
    name: Census Bureau Center for Economic Studies
    url: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds.html
  license:
    name: Creative Commons Zero 1.0 (Public Domain)
    url: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
  termsOfService: https://www.census.gov/data/developers/about/terms-of-service.html
servers:
- url: https://api.census.gov/data
  description: Census Data API production base
security:
- ApiKeyQuery: []
tags:
- name: Metadata
  description: Per-dataset variables, groups, geographies, and examples
paths:
  /{vintage}/acs/acs5/variables.json:
    get:
      summary: Get ACS 5-Year Variable Dictionary
      description: Per-vintage variable dictionary describing every available variable, its label, concept, and table.
      operationId: getAcs5Variables
      tags:
      - Metadata
      security: []
      parameters:
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/VintagePath'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Variable dictionary
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/VariableDictionary'
  /{vintage}/acs/acs5/groups.json:
    get:
      summary: Get ACS 5-Year Group Dictionary
      description: Per-vintage table group dictionary listing every table identifier with concept and variables URL.
      operationId: getAcs5Groups
      tags:
      - Metadata
      security: []
      parameters:
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/VintagePath'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Group dictionary
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/GroupDictionary'
  /{vintage}/acs/acs5/geography.json:
    get:
      summary: Get ACS 5-Year Geography Definitions
      description: Hierarchy of geographic levels and required wildcard support per dataset vintage.
      operationId: getAcs5Geography
      tags:
      - Metadata
      security: []
      parameters:
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/VintagePath'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Geography hierarchy
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/GeographyHierarchy'
components:
  schemas:
    GeographyHierarchy:
      type: object
      properties:
        fips:
          type: array
          items:
            type: object
            properties:
              name:
                type: string
              geoLevelDisplay:
                type: string
              referenceDate:
                type: string
              requires:
                type: array
                items:
                  type: string
              wildcard:
                type: array
                items:
                  type: string
              optionalWithWCFor:
                type: string
    VariableDictionary:
      type: object
      properties:
        variables:
          type: object
          additionalProperties:
            type: object
            properties:
              label:
                type: string
              concept:
                type: string
              predicateType:
                type: string
              group:
                type: string
              limit:
                type: integer
              attributes:
                type: string
    GroupDictionary:
      type: object
      properties:
        groups:
          type: array
          items:
            type: object
            properties:
              name:
                type: string
              description:
                type: string
              variables:
                type: string
              universe:
                type: string
  parameters:
    VintagePath:
      name: vintage
      in: path
      required: true
      description: Year (or year+month combination) identifying the dataset vintage. Example values include `2024`, `2023`, `2020`.
      schema:
        type: string
        pattern: ^[0-9]{4}([0-9]{2})?$
        examples:
        - '2024'
  securitySchemes:
    ApiKeyQuery:
      type: apiKey
      in: query
      name: key