Hello,
I have a few questions about the variable HHTYPE.
1)Does the census lay out a process by which they establish family and non-family households, and is HHTYPE the same process? Has it been updated since 2000?
2)How is the variable SEX used to distinguish non family vs family and does this account for same sex couples?
Thanks!
Corrected on 2/17/21
The Description Page for HHTYPE should answer your questions, but I’ll clarify a couple things. First, this variable uses the classification from 2000 for all samples in IPUMS USA. There is a new classification procedure used by the Census Bureau, currently only available for the 2019 ACS sample, and captured in the variable CBHHTYPE. Second, the variable SEX is used to only to classify households with an unmarried householder based on the sex of the householder. HHTYPE treats same-sex married couples the same as opposite-sex married couples (HHTYPE=1). Very few same-sex married couples are identified in the data prior to 2013, when the Census Bureau started recognizing same sex married couples (see SSMC).
Thank you! Does CB HHTYPE include same sex couples?
I looked into your first question a bit more and actually my original answer was incorrect - sorry for the inaccurate information. I will edit the earlier post to reflect this. Although HHTYPE does use the breakdown of family types used by the Census Bureau for the 2000 Census PUMS file, the variable in IPUMS does not differentiate between same-sex and opposite-sex couples. Prior to 2012, a very small number of same-sex married couples are identified in the data, but starting in 2013 all same-sex married couples are assigned to an HHTYPE value of 1 (married-couple family household). SEX is used only to classify households with unmarried householders by the sex of the householder.
CBHHTYPE also includes same sex married couples among “Married couple households.”