Options for getting IPUMS data
Make your own customized extract
- Register for access to use the data extraction system. The data and documentation are free, and approval is instantaneous.
- Create an extract using the free online extraction system.
- We will email you when the extract is ready. Usually it takes less than an hour.
- Download your customized dataset, codebook, and statistics package syntax file.
- Having trouble?
- See our instructions for using the data extraction system.
- See our instructions for opening an extract on your PC.
- Feel free to ask us for help
Use our online data analysis system
- Don't have a statistics package? Just looking for a quick statistic? Make tables and more with this easy-to-use online data analysis system. IPUMS datasets from 1850-present are available.
Download complete datasets
For a complete version of any dataset, users are welcome to request all variables from within the data extract system. The samples below are not available from within the extract system, but they can be downloaded in their entirity via the specified links:
- 1850-1930 Linked Representative Samples: IPUMS 1% census samples from 1850-1930 linked to a 100% database of the 1880 census. These datasets link approximately 500,000 individuals to the 1880 census.
- 1850-1860 Slave Samples: In both 1850 and 1860, the United States census contained two population schedules. Schedule 1 enumerated details of the free population, while Schedule 2 enumerated details of the slave population. The 1850-1860 Slave PUMS are the first nationally-representative samples of Schedule 2, the Census of Slave Inhabitants.
- 1900 "Preston" sample: This 1-in-760 sample was first produced by Samuel Preston and Robert Higgs at the University of Washington in 1980. The core data is also available as ICPSR dataset 7825. The version above is different from the one available at ICPSR, in that our version has been made to be compatible with the other IPUMS datasets. Variable names and labels are generally identical to those in the current 1900 IPUMS sample, as are all of the IPUMS family inter-relationship variables. This sample is no longer available from the IPUMS extract system. We provide it here for users who might need to replicate earlier analyses.
All IPUMS data are compressed
All IPUMS datasets come compressed. There are many applications available for decompressing files. The links below direct you to some of the more popular shareware and freeware programs.
- WinZip and WinRAR are also popular compression applications for Windows. WinRAR is also available for Mac and Linux.
- MacGZIP and Stuffit Expander are the most popular compression applications for Macs
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