As of 2010 the American Community Survey has replaced the decennial census long form, so that estimates of data on demographic, housing, social and economic characteristics will be available more frequently than once every ten years. Data will be provided annually for states, cities, counties, metropolitan areas, and population groups of 65,000 people or more. For smaller areas, it will take three to five years to accumulate sufficient sample to produce data for areas as small as census tracts. The short form of the decennial Census is still distributed to obtain a count of the entire U.S. population.