# CPS Longitudinal Data

**URL:** <https://forum.ipums.org/t/cps-longitudinal-data/6305>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [January 23, 2025, 5:19pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/cps-longitudinal-data/6305 "2025-01-23T17:19:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Daniel\_Wainstock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ccd318/32.png) [@Daniel\_Wainstock](https://forum.ipums.org/u/Daniel_Wainstock)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 5:19pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/cps-longitudinal-data/6305/1 "2025-01-23T17:19:58Z")

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I understand that the panel aspect of CPS is attached to residential addresses not the individuals living in them. Accordingly, if an individual or entire family moves to a different location, they will not be followed in the CPS.

My question is what happens to the identifiers. In particular, in the longitudinal files on IPUMS CPS, are the cross-sample identifiers matching residential addresses across files or are they more sophisticated in the sense that they are based on actually looking at demographics characteristics to check whether it is the same pair of family-residential address.

Thank you.

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**Author:** ![KariWilliams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@KariWilliams](https://forum.ipums.org/u/KariWilliams)\
**Post date:** [January 24, 2025, 11:04pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/cps-longitudinal-data/6305/2 "2025-01-24T23:04:33Z")

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The IPUMS CPS linking keys [CPSID](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/cpsid#description_section) (household-level) and [CPSIDP](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/cpsidp#description_section) (person-level) are mechanical and do not perform any validation based on demographic characteristics. However, the variable [CPSIDV](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/cpsidv#description_section) does validate on age, sex, and race. This [working paper](https://assets.ipums.org/_files/ipums/working_papers/ipums_wp_2023-01.pdf) details the creation of the validated linking key, CPSIDV.