Metadata: Identification and Summary
Title
American Community Survey Public Use Microdata Sample
Alternative title
ACSPUMS
Program title
American Community Survey (ACS)
Description
The ACS Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) files allow data users to create estimates for user-defined characteristics. The files contain a sample of the responses to the American Community Survey (ACS). The PUMS files includes variables for nearly every question on the ACS survey. Additional variables are also created from PUMS responses to provide data users with useful variables (such as poverty status) while protecting confidentiality and providing consistency within the PUMS files. There are two types of PUMS files, one for Person records and one for Housing Unit records. Each record in the Person file represents a single person. Individuals are organized into households, making possible the study of people within the contexts of their families and other household members. In addition, the files contain people who reside in group quarters, such as nursing homes or college dormitories. The Housing Unit files contain records for single housing units, including vacant housing units. PUMS files for an individual year contain data on approximately one percent of the United States population. PUMS files covering a five-year period contain data on approximately five percent of the United States population.
Source(s)
Census Bureau
Authorizer(s)
Census Bureau
General Survey Information
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/microdata.html
https://www.census.gov/data/academy/webinars/2020/introduction-to-american-community-survey-public-use-microdata-sample-pums-files.html
Data dictionary: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/tech_docs/pums/data_dict/PUMS_Data_Dictionary_2015-2019.pdf
Questionnaire: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/methodology/questionnaires/
General documentation link: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/microdata/documentation.html
Funder/Sponsor(s)
Census Bureau