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COSTFUEL
Annual home heating fuel cost
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Description

COSTFUEL for 1970 reports the rented housing unit's annual home heating fuel cost, excluding amounts included with contract rent payments. For later years, COSTFUEL reports each rented or owned housing unit's annual fuel cost, again excluding amounts included in contract rent or other types of payments. For all years, only liquid and solid fuels, such as oil, charcoal, kerosene and wood, were included in COSTFUEL; gas costs and electricity costs were each asked separately and are included in COSTGAS and COSTELEC, respectively.

COSTFUEL amounts for renters are part of RENTGRS. Census Bureau research comparing respondents' reported costs with utility company records indicates that respondents tend to overstate their costs.

In 1970, the universe for the U.S. Census samples specifies renter-occupied units rented for cash rent, not one-family houses on 10+ acres and not group quarters; however in the Puerto Rican census of 1970, this specification is for renter-occupied units rented for cash rent, not one-family houses on 3+ cuerdas, and not group quarters.

Amounts are expressed in contemporary dollars, and users studying change over time must adjust for inflation. See INCTOT for Consumer Price Index adjustment factors. The exception is the ACS/PRCS multi-year files, where all dollar amounts have been standardized to dollars as valued in the final year of data included in the file (e.g., 2007 dollars for the 2005-2007 3-year file). Additionally, more detail may be available than exists in the original ACS samples.

User Note: ACS respondents are surveyed throughout the year, and amounts do not reflect calendar year dollars. While the Census Bureau provides an adjustment factor (available in ADJUST), this is an imperfect solution. See the ACS income variables note for further details.

User Note
The traditional unit of land area in Puerto Rico is the cuerda. The cuerda is equal to about 3930 square meters, 4700 square yards, or 0.971 acres. Because the cuerda and the acre are so close to being equal, they are often treated informally as being equal. Mainlanders sometimes call the unit the "Spanish Acre." The IPUMS has preserved the units for the mainland U.S. as acres and Puerto Rico as cuerdas.