| Data structure | Temporal scope | Geographic scope | Geographic detail | GIS files | Collection instrument | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USA | Microdata | 1850 - present | U.S. | 1950-present: PUMA/county group, select counties, select metros 1940 & earlier: County, city, ward |
Separate download Info |
Decennial Census & ACS |
| NHGIS | Aggregate | 1790 - present | U.S. |
1970-present: Block (decennial census) or block group (ACS) |
Via extract system Info |
Decennial Census & ACS, also includes data from other sources |
| International | Microdata | 1850 - 1911; 1960s - present |
100+ countries | Second administrative level1,2 | Separate download Info |
Population & housing censuses. Labor force surveys |
| IHGIS | Aggregate | 1960s - present | 100+ countries | Second or third adminstrative level1 | Separate download Info |
Population & housing censuses. Agricultural censuses & surveys |
| CPS | Microdata | 1962 - present | U.S. | State, metro, select counties, select cities | n/a | Monthly labor force survey of households. Also includes rotating supplemental topics |
| Time Use | Microdata | 1965 - present | 14+ countries | U.S. samples: State, select counties, select metros International samples: Region (country-specific) |
n/a | ATUS: Individual 24-hour time diary survey. AHTUS & MTUS: Time diary surveys. |
| NHIS | Microdata | 1963 - present | U.S. | Census region 2001 & earlier: Large metros |
n/a | Self-reported health survey of civilian, non-institutionalized population. Level of detail on household members varies by survey year. |
| MEPS | Microdata | 1996 - present | U.S. | Census region | n/a | Health and medical expenditure short panel survey. Sampling frame is households selected for the NHIS. |
| DHS | Microdata | 1980s - present | 40+ countries | First administrative level1,3 | Separate download Info |
Survey of women of childbearing age, includes information on their young children and births. Also covers all members of randomly sampled households and, in many cases, adult men. |
| PMA | Microdata | 2010s - present | 10+ countries | First administrative level1,4 | Separate download Info |
Surveys of women of childbearing age and their households. Associated surveys of family planning and other health service delivery points. |
| HigherEd | Microdata | 1993 - 2013 | U.S. | None | n/a | Surveys of college and doctoral graduates, focused on science and engineering (STEM) workforce. |
| Terra | Microdata, Aggregate, Raster | 1960s - present | 100+ countries | Second administrative level1,2 | Via extract system | Population & housing censuses. Raster data from satellite imagery, weather stations, and other sources. |
1 Administrative levels represent the sub-national units into which countries are divided. They are usually hierarchical, with second level units nesting within first level parent units. For example, in the United States, states are first level administrative units and counties are second level administrative units.
2 In IPUMS International and IPUMS Terra, administrative units may be regionalized for confidentiality purposes. Units that have populations smaller than a designated threshold, usually 20,000 people, are combined with neighboring unit(s) to create a regionalized unit that is above the population threshold.
3IPUMS DHS also provides contextual variables summarizing characteristics of a 5-10 kilometer radius around each respondent's sample cluster and linking codes enabling users to attach contextual variables constructed from IPUMS International at the second administrative level. The DHS data themselves are not representative at these finer scales.
4 Many IPUMS PMA samples cover only selected portions of the country. A few samples include second administrative level detail.