When I tried to open an unzipped date file using SPSS there was no data in the data window.

I downloaded the data file and the SPSS syntax file from IPUMS. The datafile was unzipped using 7-zip. However, when I tried opening the SPSS Data file the variable names were there but not the data. I am not sure what the problem is or how to solve the problem. Whate I have done was to create new extracts but got the same results.

I looked into your extracts and it appears that your data files are empty. This may be the result of Selecting Cases. It looks like you were trying to select a specific city, however, in the 2011 ACS that city was not identifiable using PUMAs (meaning that the PUMAs that compose the city go beyond the city’s geographic boundary and cannot, therefore, perfectly distinguish between respondents from the city and from outside of the city).

Since you are interested in a small geographic area, you may want to consider using a multi-year sample, as these samples are more likely to include larger numbers of respondents from smaller geographic areas.

Also, if your analysis does not require you to specifically adhere to the city geographic boundary, you could instead use COUNTY to identify the area you are hoping to study. Be sure to also include STATEFIP in your extract, since COUNTY codes are shared between states (meaning that if you simply select COUNTY code 710, without specifying a state, you will get respondents from Orange County New York, Gaston County North Carolina, Orleans Parish Louisiana, etc.).

I hope this helps.