# city of residence 1 year ago

**URL:** <https://forum.ipums.org/t/city-of-residence-1-year-ago/472>\
**Category:** USA\
**Created:** [March 31, 2014, 12:11pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/city-of-residence-1-year-ago/472 "2014-03-31T12:11:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![clapton58](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@clapton58](https://forum.ipums.org/u/clapton58)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 12:11pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/city-of-residence-1-year-ago/472/1 "2014-03-31T12:11:00Z")

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A [city](https://usa.ipums.org/usa-action/variables/CITY#description_section) can be identified if and only if its boundaries line up with the PUMA boundaries (or [migpuma1](https://usa.ipums.org/usa-action/variables/MIGPUMA1#description_section) boundaries if I look at the city of residence 1 year ago ([MIGCITY1](https://usa.ipums.org/usa-action/variables/MIGCITY1#description_section)) ). However, some cities (e.g. Akron, OH) are identifiable when i look at the variable [CITY](https://usa.ipums.org/usa-action/variables/CITY#description_section) but they disappear when I look at the city of residence 1 year ago. How is this possible?

Thank you for your time

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**Author:** ![grover](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.ipums.org/grover/32/5_2.png) [@grover](https://forum.ipums.org/u/grover)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 9:51pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/city-of-residence-1-year-ago/472/2 "2014-03-31T21:51:00Z")

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Cities identified in MIGCITY1 actually use [MIGPUMA1](https://usa.ipums.org/usa-action/variables/migpuma1#availability_section)s, which are largely the same as PUMAs, but some have been combined to protect against individual identification. Because MIGPUMA1 is not exactly the same as PUMA, some CITYs are not available in MIGCITY1.

I hope this helps.