After unzipping my data set and changing the file to fit STATA, my STATA app says the file is too modern. Does anyone know how to fix this?
If the Stata formatted (.dta) version of the data extract file is not compatible with your version of Stata, and you are unable to update Stata, you can request a fixed-width (.dat) data file and read it into Stata using the accompanying .do file. You can request a fixed-width data file by creating a new extract or modifying an existing extract. This IPUMS blog post provides more information on changing your extract file type and opening a fixed-width file in Stata.
I’ve already tried doing this and it still says it is not STATA format. Any other ideas?
The fixed-width .dat file is not in Stata format. You need to use the accompanying .do file to read the data file into Stata. The .do file comes with your extract.
Download the .dat file and decompress it.
Download the Stata .do file and save it to the same location as the .dat file.
In Stata, set your cd to the location your two files are saved in.
Run the .do file in Stata.
If you encounter difficulty while following these steps, please post a screenshot that shows the issue.