Release of 2009-2013 5yr PUMS

USA
1

Is there a scheduled date for the release of the ACS 2009-2013 5yr PUMs data? Will these data be released with the Place of Work and Migration PUMAs?

Also, will the ACS 2008-2012 5yr PUMS be re-released with the Place of Work and Migration PUMAs included in the dataet? Any idea when they may be be released?

Thanks,

JosephP

2

The IPUMS-USA Project is currently working on improving their data creation process. This will ultimately improve the IPUMS-USA project as a whole, but with the unfortunate side-effect of delaying the release of the 2013 multi-year ACS data files. While there is no current estimated release date for these samples, the multi-year data files are simply a concatenation of the single-year ACS data files; thus, it is possible to construct the multi-year files yourself. You can simply select the 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 1-year ACS datasets from the IPUMS-USA data selection menu, adjust dollar values to the most recent year in the 5-year set (using YEAR and an adjusted CPI99 variable), and divide all weight values by 5.

While the Census Bureau does use more complex methods for generating multi-year weights (see Weighting Methodology from the 2012 3-year Accuracy Statement), simply dividing by five is the primary adjustment and provides extremely similar values to the Census Bureau calculated weights. You can verify this by trying to match the 2009-2013 PUMS Estimates for User Verification. If you are still uncertain about this combination method, I would recommend replicating your analysis using the combined 2008 to 2012 ACS samples and compare your results with the actual 2012 5-year ACS sample.

MIGPUMA1 and PWPUMA00 are available in all years from 2009-2013; therefore, you should expect these variables to be included in the 5-year dataset. Keep in mind that PUMA definitions changed to the 2010 codes and definitions starting in 2012 (see this previous answer for how PUMA variables are handled in multi-year files).

MIGPUMA1 and PWPUMA00 are currently available in the 2012 5-year dataset.

Hope this helps.