IPUMS Linked Representative Samples Downloads
Final Data Release (June 2010)

To access the files, users must log in with their IPUMS-USA email address and password. Click here to register for an account.

The table below provides data files in SAS, SPSS, and Stata format. Detailed descriptions on the linked data samples can be found here. For an explanation of the variables unique to the linked datasets, scroll down.

	Data file format
	SAS	SPSS	Stata
1850-1880	men women couples	men women couples	men women couples
1860-1880	men women couples	men women couples	men women couples
1870-1880	men women couples	men women couples	men women couples
1880-1900	men women couples	men women couples	men women couples
1880-1910	men women couples	men women couples	men women couples
1880-1920	men women couples	men women couples	men women couples
1880-1930	men women couples	men women couples	men women couples
All samples, all years (in a *.zip archive)	all samples	all samples	all samples

Variables created specifically for the linked files

We created five new variables specifically for the linked datasets: MARSTCH, MARSTCHD, OCCDIF, MIGRANT, and MILEMIG. These variables describe how the individual's occupation, marital status and place of residence changed between the early period and the later period. These variables contain data for the primary links only. The technical variables LINKTYPE and HHSEQ are also unique to the linked data datasets.

OCCDIF describes the change in the IPUMS variable OCCSCORE between year 1 and year 2 in four categories:
1 OCCSCORE decreased by more than 10% from early period to later period
2 OCCSCORE did not change by more than 10% from early period to later period
3 OCCSCORE increased by more than 10% from early period to later period
9 N/A (person did not have an occupation in at least one of the two periods)

MARSTCH describes how marital status compares between the two years with the following codes:
1 Unmarried in both periods
2 Unmarried in early period, married in later period
3 Married in both periods
4 Married in early period, widowed or divorced in later period
5 Other (enumeration error or potentially inaccurate link)
6 Marital status indeterminate/ unknown in at least one period.

MARSTCHD describes marital status changes in more detail.
10 Unmarried in both periods
11 Single in both periods
12 Widowed or divorced in both periods
13 Single in early period, widowed or divorced in later period
20 Unmarried in early period, married in later period
21 Single in early period, married in later period
22 Widowed or divorced in early period, married in later period
30 Married in both periods
31 Married in both periods, spouse linked
32 Married in both periods, spouse not linked
40 Married in early period, widowed or divorced in later period
50 Other (enumeration error or potentially inaccurate link)
60 Marital status indeterminate/ unknown in at least one period.

The "other" category for both MARSTCH and MARSTCHD contains individuals whose MARST values changed in nonsensical ways, for example going from married to single. Although falling into this category may be indicative of a false link it instead could be indicative of false information or data entry errors.

MIGRANT describes how state and county of residence compare between the years in five categories:
1 Same county, same boundary [not a migrant]
2 Same county, boundary changed [probably not a migrant]
3 Different county within state; boundary changes between counties [migrant status indeterminate]
4 Different county within state; no boundary changes [migrant]
5 Different county and state [migrant]

MILEMIG provides an estimate of how far the person moved in miles. We achieved these estimates by measuring distances between NHGIS county centroids (center points) in GIS software. We did not calculate migration distances for those who moved to or from Alaska or Hawaii, or were categorized as "overseas military" in at least one year (those cases are coded as 9999 in MILEMIG).

LINKTYPE reason individual was included in the Linked Representative Samples

0 Primary linked person

1 Primary link in another iteration of this household. This person will have a LINKTYPE value of 0 in a repeat of this household in the dataset.

5Additional linked person who was only linked after the systematic linkage process. This person is not identified as a primary link in any household. These links were made for the convenience of researchers interested in the stability of primary linked persons' households.

9 Unlinked person, present in the household of a primary linked person during only one census year.

HHSEQ Linked Representative Sample household identification number, to be used in conjunction with SERIAL. Each primary linked person has a unique combination of SERIAL and HHSEQ that is shared by all members of the linked person's households in both census years. HHSEQ values range from 1 to 9.

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