Description

FTYPE reports the Census family type of each person in a household. Note that the Census family is not necessarily the same as the IPUMS-derived family as give in FAMUNIT. The Census family is a group of two people or more (one of whom is the householder) related by birth, marriage, or adoption and residing together; all such people (including related subfamily members) are considered as members of one family. Any family level variable depends directly on this variable in that all members of each CPS-identified family unit are assigned the same value for any given family level variable. The Census Bureau poverty statistics are developed with the family interrelationships defined by FTYPE.

Recall that a household includes the related family members and all the unrelated people, if any, such as lodgers, foster children, wards, or employees who share the housing unit. A person living alone in a housing unit, or a group of unrelated people sharing a housing unit such as partners or roomers, is also counted as a household. For more on the Census family definitions, see below as well as the description for FAMREL.

A family household is a household maintained by a householder who is in a family (as defined above), and includes any unrelated people (unrelated subfamily members and/or secondary individuals) who may be residing there. The number of family households is equal to the number of families. The count of family household members differs from the count of family members, however, in that the family household members include all people living in the household, whereas family members include only the householder and his/her relatives.

A primary family consists of a married couple with or without children, or one parent with one or more own never married children under 18 years old, who maintain the household.

A nonfamily householder consists of a householder living alone (a one-person household) or where the householder shares the home exclusively with people to whom he/she is not related.

A subfamily is a married couple with or without children, or a single parent with one or more own never-married children under 18 years old. A subfamily does not maintain their own household, but lives in the home of someone else.

A related subfamily is a married couple with or without children, or one parent with one or more own never married children under 18 years old, living in a household and related to, but not including, the person or couple who maintains the household. One example of a related subfamily is a young married couple sharing the home of the husbands or wife's parents. The number of related subfamilies is not included in the count of families.

An unrelated subfamily (formerly called a secondary family) is a married couple with or without children, or a single parent with one or more own never-married children under 18 years old living in a household. Unrelated subfamily members are not related to the householder. An unrelated subfamily may include people such as guests, partners, roommates, or resident employees and their spouses and/or children. The number of unrelated subfamily members is included in the total number of household members, but is not included in the count of family members.

Secondary individuals (formerly called unrelated individuals) are people of any age who reside in a household, but are not related to the householder (except unrelated subfamily members). People who reside in group quarters are also secondary individuals. Examples of a secondary individual include (1) a guest, partner, roommate, or resident employee; (2) a foster child; or (3) a person residing in a rooming house, a halfway house, staff quarters at a hospital, or other type of group quarters.

For more information, see the Census Bureau's page on CPS definitions.

Comparability

Beginning with the 1980 Current Population Survey, unrelated subfamilies (referred to in the past as secondary families) are no longer included in the count of families, nor are the members of unrelated subfamilies included in the count of family members.

Beginning in 1989, any person(s) who is not related to the householder and who is not the husband, wife, parent, or child in an unrelated subfamily is counted as an unrelated individual.

Universe

Flags

Unharmonized Variables

• UH_FAMDESC_A1
• UH_FAMKND_A1
• UH_FAMKND_A2
• UH_FAMTYP_A1
• UH_FAMTYP_A2
• UH_FAMTYP_A3
• UH_FAMTYP_A4
• UH_FAMTYP_B1