ACS 2013-17 does not return ssmc data but individual years do

USA
1

I am trying to determine the number of Same Sex Married Couples reported by the 2013-17 ACS. When I try to query the data on line I get the message “Cannot find the variable “ssmc” in specified datasets.” However, when I run the same query for individual ACS years in the multiyear sample I do get a result, which seems counterintuitive. Has this variable not been included in the 2013-17 ACS PUMS sample?

Thanks for your help.

Cliff Cook

2

At the present time the SSMC variable is only available in the single year ACS samples from 2013 onward. You are indeed correct that the 2013-2017 5-year ACS file is the first 5-year file to be able to included the SSMC variable. The reason for this omission is that, since the availability of the SSMC variable in the 5-year file is a new feature, the IPUMS USA Team has not yet integrated this variable in the 2013-2017 ACS 5-year file. I will send a note to the IPUMS USA Team and ask them to move this task up on their to-do list if possible.

3

Thank you!!