IPUMS ABACUS

What is IPUMS Abacus?

Screenshot of an Abacus tabulation

For exploring IPUMS USA data and metadata

Create frequency tables, crosstabulations, compare across two time points, define subpopulations all without creating a data extract. Explore variable descriptions, comparability, and questionnaire text from your phone while working with a traditional IPUMS USA data extract on your computer or laptop.

For mobile devices

IPUMS Abacus is designed with mobile devices in mind, providing output as a nested-crosstabulation for better viewing on a screen that is taller than it is wide.

Variables are also limited to those that fit best with the current IPUMS Abacus format. Variables like age and measures of income have been binned based on how summary tables produced by the Census Bureau tend to aggregate values to limit the number of unique categories.

Here are some questions we explored using IPUMS Abacus:

Clicking on a question will take you to the IPUMS Abacus table that we constructed to try and answer them.

What questions are you answering with IPUMS Abacus? Let us know!

IPUMS Abacus is currently limited to a maximum of two variables and two time points for a single tabulation, but we hope to be able to remove these limitations in the future. Also, while IPUMS Abacus was developed for use on mobile devices, it does also work on laptop or desktop computers.

Beyond generating tabulations for one or two variables, some other key features of IPUMS Abacus include:

Exploring variable metadata, such as variable descriptions, comparability over time, availability, original questionnaire text, etc. through the Variables menu.
Limiting tabulations to a single state using Place.
Comparing harmonized variables across two Time points.
Limiting tabulations to a specific group of people using Subpopulation.
Quickly transposing your selected tabulation variables using Flip.
Viewing only the results of interest using Collapse.
Displaying values as percentages, weighted counts, or sample counts using Measure.
Generating a link to Share tables!

In need of Beta Testers (that's you!)

If you want to play a larger role in the development of IPUMS Abacus, and get access to new features before they go live, sign up to be a Beta Tester! There are lots of changes/improvements yet to come. As a Beta Tester, you will test out new features and data in IPUMS Abacus and provide feedback on things that are broken, areas for improvement, and how you are using this new tool.