When I attempt to include PERNUM into my data extract the data cart flashes but the number of variables in the cart does not update. I’m trying to add PERNUM to an extract that includes HHWT, HHINCOME, and other household variables so I can get a count of households. I’ve tried creating a new extract and face the same issue. I’ve tried doing this in both Firefox and Chrome browsers. Is this an issue with the website or something else?
PERNUM and other individual-level variables are only preselected if you have other individual-level variables in your cart. However, you only selected HHINCOME and FTOTINC, both of which are household-level variables. Therefore, your extract defaults to only showing households, for which PERNUM is unavailable. If you want to include both individual and household data, you first want to add a person-level variable to your extract. Then, when you’re on the Extract Request screen, select Data Structure. This will let you choose whether you want a rectangular (person), hierarchical, or household only data structure. A hierarchical structure will include both household data followed by person-level data for each corresponding household.
Wonderful, thank you! Just to clarify. If I want to get household counts do I need to filter my data to PERNUM == 1 before summarizing to HHWT?
In a hierarchical data structure, PERNUM will only be available for individual-level records and HHWT will only available for household records. Therefore, simply summing up HHWT will give you aggregate household-level counts.





