The 2014 MECS is EIA's ninth survey of the manufacturing sector and covers the 50 States and the District of Columbia. Previous surveys were conducted for 1985, 1988, 1991, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, and 2010. Subsequent MECS are planned for every four years. For more details on how the scope of the MECS survey has changed over time, see MECS attributes. Data collection for 2018 MECS in 2019.

The basic unit of data collection for MECS is the manufacturing establishment. The 2014 MECS sample size of about 15,000 establishments was drawn from a nationally representative sample frame representing 97-98% of the manufacturing payroll. This sample allows EIA to report separate estimates of energy use for 21 three-digit industry subsectors, and 50 industry groups and industries according to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).

For more on MECS Methodology, see 2014 Methodology