# Is there a variable for the CPS ASEC for the individual's percentage of the poverty threshold?

**URL:** <https://forum.ipums.org/t/is-there-a-variable-for-the-cps-asec-for-the-individuals-percentage-of-the-poverty-threshold/1529>\
**Category:** CPS\
**Created:** [January 3, 2017, 7:53pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/is-there-a-variable-for-the-cps-asec-for-the-individuals-percentage-of-the-poverty-threshold/1529 "2017-01-03T19:53:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![lydande](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7bcc69/32.png) [@lydande](https://forum.ipums.org/u/lydande)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2017, 7:53pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/is-there-a-variable-for-the-cps-asec-for-the-individuals-percentage-of-the-poverty-threshold/1529/1 "2017-01-03T19:53:00Z")

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Is there a variable for the CPS ASEC for the individual’s percentage of the poverty threshold? Similar to the POVERTY variable for the ACS.

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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:** [January 3, 2017, 8:42pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/is-there-a-variable-for-the-cps-asec-for-the-individuals-percentage-of-the-poverty-threshold/1529/2 "2017-01-03T20:42:00Z")

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IPUMS-CPS has a number of variables relating to [poverty status](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/group/pov) available for ASEC samples. Like the [POVERTY](https://usa.ipums.org/usa-action/variables/poverty#description_section) variable in IPUMS-USA, an individuals poverty status is determined by the collective income and characteristics of their family. I would recommend reading the IPUMS-CPS variable descriptions for both [POVERTY](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/POVERTY#description_section) and [OFFPOV](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/OFFPOV#description_section) to determine which definition best suits your purpose. These variables do not give the percentage as the IPUMS-USA POVERTY variable does but you can divide [FTOTVAL](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/ftotval#description_section) by [CUTOFF](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/CUTOFF#description_section) (or [OFFTOTVAL](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/OFFTOTVAL#description_section) by [OFFCUTOFF](https://cps.ipums.org/cps-action/variables/OFFCUTOFF#description_section)) to calculate percent of poverty threshold.

I hope this helps.