I need to compute a slightly complicated variable at the household level based on some combinations of person-level characteristics. My scan of the help file IPUMS Login did not reveal such functionality. Did I miss anything?
Unfortunately, the online analysis tool (SDA) does not include a group-by operation for computing variables. I understand this is not the news you were hoping for. To construct household-level variables using person-level characteristics, I recommend that you create and download a custom data extract.
I understand you may face limitations when downloading data extracts onto your computer such as computing power, storage space, or access to statistical software. To overcome these limitations, you can limit the variables in your sample to only what you use to keep the file size manageable. If you are studying only a subset of observations, for example, a few states or a specific age range, you can use the select cases feature to limit your extract to the population of interest. You can also add SUBSAMP to your data cart and use select cases to limit your extract to one or more subsamples. SUBSAMP allocates each household to one of 100 subsample replicates, randomly numbered from 0 to 99. Each subsample is nationally representative and preserves all stratification of the sample from which it is drawn. You can also break your extracts down by sample, creating multiple extracts each containing a few years of data.