Description

OCCSOC reports the person's primary occupation, classified according to the 2000 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system for 2000-2009, according to the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) for 2010-2017, and according to 2018 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) for 2018-onward.

For workers employed during the previous week, the data refer to the job at which the person worked the greatest number of hours. For persons who were unemployed or out of the labor force, the data refer to the most recent job, if it was within the previous five years.

The variable OCC provides a numeric occupational classification that is closely related to the OCCSOC scheme. The crosswalk between the OCC and OCCSOC codes are available here:

OCC to OCCSOC Crosswalk

User caution: OCCSOC contains alphabetic characters (See OCC for a fully numeric classification of occupations).

Note: The OCC to OCCSOC crosswalk is reflective of the codes in the ACS PUMS data files, which slightly differ from the codes found here: Full list of Census provided Industry and Occupation Codes.

OCCSOC is a 6-digit alphanumeric string variable which reports the person's primary occupation, classified according to the 2000 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system for 2000-2009, according to the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) for 2010-2017, and according to 2018 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) for 2018-onward. A crosswalk of OCCSOC codes for the 2000 Census and the ACS/PRCS from 2000-onward is available here:

OCCSOC Crosswalk

Please note that in some cases the SOC occupation codes are aggregated if they do not have an exact match to a Census occupation code or to preserve confidentiality in cases where the category contained fewer than 10,000 people nationwide (Lauger, Wisniewski, McKenna, 2014).

Reference:
Lauger, A., Bisniewski, B., McKenna, L. (2014). Disclosure avoidance techniques at the U.S. Census Bureau: Current practices and research (Research Report Series #2014-02). U.S. Census Bureau: https://www.census.gov/content/census/en/about/policies/privacy/statistical_safeguards/working-papers.html.

Comparability

This variable is available for the 2000 Census and the ACS/PRCS from 2000-onward. The variable OCC provides an alternative numeric occupational classification that is similarly detailed. A link to the crosswalk between the OCC and OCCSOC codes is available on the Description tab.

Universe

Availability

• 2023: All samples
• 2022: All samples
• 2021: All samples
• 2020: All samples
• 2019: All samples
• 2018: All samples
• 2017: All samples
• 2016: All samples
• 2015: All samples
• 2014: All samples
• 2013: All samples
• 2012: All samples
• 2011: All samples
• 2010: ACS; ACS 3yr; ACS 5yr
• 2009: All samples
• 2008: All samples
• 2007: All samples
• 2006: All samples
• 2005: All samples
• 2004: All samples
• 2003: All samples
• 2002: All samples
• 2001: All samples
• 2000: All samples
• 1990: --
• 1980: --
• 1970: --
• 1960: --
• 1950: --
• 1940: --
• 1930: --
• 1920: --
• 1910: --
• 1900: --
• 1880: --
• 1870: --
• 1860: --
• 1850: --

• 2023: All samples
• 2022: All samples
• 2021: All samples
• 2020: All samples
• 2019: All samples
• 2018: All samples
• 2017: All samples
• 2016: All samples
• 2015: All samples
• 2014: All samples
• 2013: All samples
• 2012: All samples
• 2011: All samples
• 2010: PRCS; PRCS 3yr; PRCS 5yr
• 2009: All samples
• 2008: All samples
• 2007: All samples
• 2006: All samples
• 2005: All samples
• 2000: All samples
• 1990: --
• 1980: --
• 1970: --
• 1930: --
• 1920: --
• 1910: --

Flags

Editing Procedure

There is no editing procedure available for this variable.