# How do I narrow down the variable INCRETIR to the county level?

**URL:** <https://forum.ipums.org/t/how-do-i-narrow-down-the-variable-incretir-to-the-county-level/572>\
**Category:** USA\
**Created:** [June 30, 2014, 6:16pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/how-do-i-narrow-down-the-variable-incretir-to-the-county-level/572 "2014-06-30T18:16:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![narisp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/43a26b/32.png) [@narisp](https://forum.ipums.org/u/narisp)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 6:16pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/how-do-i-narrow-down-the-variable-incretir-to-the-county-level/572/1 "2014-06-30T18:16:00Z")

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Hello,

I’m trying to measure access to retirement either through pensions, savings for retirement, 401K plans, DB/DC plans, etc. I was wondering if the [INCRETIR](https://usa.ipums.org/usa-action/variables/INCRETIR) variable would be a good variable to gauge this. If not, what other variable could I use? After finding the appropriate variable, I need to narrow down my data to the county I live in (Ventura County, CA). If anyone has any information on this, I’d be very appreciative. Thank you.

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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:** [July 2, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/how-do-i-narrow-down-the-variable-incretir-to-the-county-level/572/2 "2014-07-02T20:59:00Z")

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[INCRETIR](https://usa.ipums.org/usa-action/variables/INCRETIR#description_section) will only identify those individuals who reported received retirement, survivor, and disability pension income, other than Social Security in the past 12 months (for ACS). This is not a perfect measure of who has access to retirement, especially if you are wanting to include people who were not currently retired. I don’t believe there are any variables that directly measure access to retirement funds.

Ventura County, CA can be identified in the by STATEFIP==6 (California) and COUNTY==1110 (Ventura County). Currently, the COUNTY variable in the 1-year 2012 ACS file in IPUMS-USA does not identify Ventura County, however the PUMAs 11101-11106 (when STATEFIP==6) do identify Ventura County in 2012. With the next update to the IPUMS-USA website Ventura County will be identified for the 1-year 2012 ACS. I hope this helps.
