Codes and Frequencies
Description
METRO indicates whether a household was located in a metropolitan area. For households within metropolitan areas, METRO specifies whether the housing unit was inside or outside the central city of the metropolitan area. Information on metropolitan status was added by the Census Bureau, rather than being directly collected from respondents.
Comparability
For 1962 to 1976, households in metropolitan areas were classified dichotomously as "in the central city" and "not in the central city." For 1977 onward, IPUMS-CPS added an additional code, "in metropolitan area, central city status unknown." In addition, confidentiality requirements led to some households being classified as "not identifiable" in the METRO variable.
Metro is unavailable in the June, July, and August 1995 basic monthly sample data. In earlier basic monthly samples, METRO is unavailable in January, April, May, June, October, and November 1976 data, as well as July, August, and September 1985 samples.
Comparability with IPUMS-USA
Changes in the definition of metropolitan area in the METRO variable in IPUMS-CPS follow changes in the census definition of metropolitan areas. However, the changes that happened in the 2012 ACS (use of the 2013 OMB metro area classifications) did not occur in the CPS until 2015. The METRO variable is largely comparable in the IPUMS census and ACS samples and IPUMS-CPS.
Universe
- All households and group quarters.
Availability
| Years | Jan | Feb | ASEC | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 – 1975 | - | - | X | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1976 | - | X | X | X | - | - | - | X | X | X | - | - | X |
| 1977 – 1984 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| 1985 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | - | - | - | X | X | X |
| 1986 – 1994 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| 1995 | X | X | X | X | X | X | - | - | - | X | X | X | X |
| 1996 – 2017 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| 2018 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | - |
