'0' in Countyfip

Hello,
I had a similar question about ‘0’ showing up when using the countyfip variable when using the online tool. Would it be safe to assume that this county labeled as ‘0’ represents counties for which counties were not able to be identified because of small sample sizes?

Follow-up question: Should estimates from this row be used in totals?

For example, I am looking to get the total number of children ages 0-18 in TX, however, I am unsure of whether to include the estimate from county ‘0’ in the total.

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Yes, COUNTYFIP = 0 is assigned to all households whose county of residence cannot be identified in the data. This code is used for households regardless of the state that they resided in (which is reported for all households in the variable STATEFIP).

To take the case of Texas, sampled households residing in one of 38 counties identified in the 2022 1-year ACS are assigned STATEFIP = 48 and the COUNTYFIP value associated with their county. Households that resided in one of the 216 unidentified counties are assigned STATEFIP = 48 and the COUNTYFIP = 0. For example, both Bastrop County and Caldwell County (part of the Austin metro area) are not identifiable and receive a COUNTYFIP code of 0 and a STATEFIP code of 48. Excluding persons in Texas with COUNTYFIP = 0 from your totals is equivalent to excluding all persons who reside in Bastrop, Caldwell, and the other unidentified counties in Texas from your total.