Note: Values are as they appear in the original CPS data. Top-codes, bottom-codes, and NIU codes have not been harmonized by IPUMS.

9999999999 = NIU

1968-1975
50000 = Top Code (50,000 and greater)

Values in all years can be negative.

Description

FTOTVAL reports the total income for the respondent's family. Amounts are expressed as they were reported to the interviewer (i.e., in the survey year's dollar amounts). Users may want to adjust for inflation using Consumer Price Index adjustment factors. (FTOTVAL relies on Census-defined families. For more on Census families see FTYPE and FAMREL. This is a different definition from IPUMS-derived families as in FAMUNIT).

Comparability

FTOTVAL is taken directly from family record of the original CPS public use microdata samples. This variable relies on family designations identified in the original CPS data, and is the basis for the creation of the official poverty measure (available in POVERTY and OFFPOV).

FTOTVAL represents the total income from all sources for each family. The definition of family unit used by the Census Bureau differs in small ways from that used by the IPUMS. Further information on why and how this definition differs can be found on the FAMUNIT variable description.

Staff at the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau use FTOTVAL and CUTOFF to derive official poverty measures.

Comparability with IPUMS-USA

Universe

Flags

Unharmonized Variables

• UH_FAMINC_A1
• UH_FAMINC_A2
• UH_FAMINC_A3
• UH_FAMINC_A4