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SERIAL
Household serial number
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Description

SERIAL is an identifying number unique to each household record in a given sample. All person records are assigned the same serial number as the household record that they follow. (Person records also have their own unique identifiers - see PERNUM.) A combination of SAMPLE and SERIAL provides a unique identifier for every household in the IPUMS; the combination of SAMPLE, SERIAL, and PERNUM uniquely identifies every person in the database.

For 1850-1930, households that are part of a multi-household dwelling can be identified by using the DWELLING and DWSEQ variables. See "Sample Designs" for further discussion of sampling from within multi-household dwellings.