SERIAL is a 5-digit numeric variable.

Description

SERIAL is an identifying number unique to each household in a given survey month and year. All person records are assigned the same serial number as the household record they follow. A combination of YEAR, MONTH, and SERIAL provides a within-sample unique identifier for every household in IPUMS-CPS; YEAR, MONTH, SERIAL, and PERNUM uniquely identify every person within a single sample.

SERIAL is a new value generated for IPUMS-CPS and should not be confused with the household serial number created by the Census Bureau and included in the original CPS data.

Comparability

This variable is fully comparable for all years.

Comparability with IPUMS-USA

Universe

Flags

Unharmonized Variables