# County-level data on full sample

**URL:** <https://forum.ipums.org/t/county-level-data-on-full-sample/4161>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [June 2, 2021, 2:28pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/county-level-data-on-full-sample/4161 "2021-06-02T14:28:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![alessandra\_stampi-bo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f1d935/32.png) [@alessandra\_stampi-bo](https://forum.ipums.org/u/alessandra_stampi-bo)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2021, 2:28pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/county-level-data-on-full-sample/4161/1 "2021-06-02T14:28:13Z")

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Dear IPUMS community,

I am searching for county-level counts of the population by place of birth (BPL) for the years 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930. What is the best way to get this data? Should I download the publicly available samples online, and how should weigh them to aggregate them to the county-level? Or should I apply for the full sample access of these years? Or is there a way to directly download the data at the county level?

Thank you very much.

Best,  
Alessandra

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**Author:** ![Grace\_Cooper](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.ipums.org/grace_cooper/32/376_2.png) [@Grace\_Cooper](https://forum.ipums.org/u/Grace_Cooper)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 7:24pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/county-level-data-on-full-sample/4161/2 "2021-06-08T19:24:22Z")

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[NHGIS](https://www.nhgis.org/) provides summary tables of census data, including population by birthplace at the county level. Alternatively, population by birthplace per county can be estimated using [Census sample data](https://usa.ipums.org/usa/sampdesc.shtml#us1920a) available in [IPUMS USA](https://usa.ipums.org/usa/). The variable [BPL](https://usa.ipums.org/usa-action/variables/BPL#description_section) (birthplace) can be used along with [COUNTYICP](https://usa.ipums.org/usa-action/variables/COUNTYICP#description_section) to aggregate birthplace statistics at the county level. Nationally-representative population estimates can then be calculated using the person-level weight, [PERWT](https://usa.ipums.org/usa-action/variables/PERWT#description_section). Total population by birthplace per county can also be calculated using the [USA Complete Count files](https://usa.ipums.org/usa/complete_count.shtml). Due to their large size, however, these files can be cumbersome to work with. The following are links to apply for access to these data: [IPUMS NHGIS](https://uma.pop.umn.edu/nhgis/registration), [IPUMS USA](https://uma.pop.umn.edu/usa/registration).