Import U.S. Census Microdata from IPUMS

Getting Started > Getting Data > Import Census Microdata

You can directly import samples of U.S. census microdata (data about individual people) from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) Web site at the University of Minnesota. This is a rich source of interesting data, which Fathom makes easy to access and explore. There are dozens of attributes available, and the site includes data from censuses as far back as 1850. A movie illustrates this process: Importing Census Microdata.

For Canadian census microdata, see Canadian Census Files, a folder of sample documents.

_img108

1.	In a new, empty Fathom document, choose File \| Import \| U.S. Census Data.

Fathom creates an empty collection and opens its inspector to the Microdata panel.

Fathom provides default selections for you. You can download the request at this point or expand the headings to specify sample size, places and years to sample from (Choosing Cases), and more information about each person (Attributes). You can also decide to import samples of households, rather than of individual people. (see the Subsections below for more detail.)

2.	Click Download Data in the lower-right corner of the inspector.

Fathom sends a request to the IPUMS Web site and returns the requested data. When the download is complete, the status area changes to reflect the number of cases imported, and the collection icon image changes to a box full of gold balls.

The categorical attributes (see Numeric vs. Categorical Attributes) and Census_Year have category sets assigned to them automatically. (see Control Behavior of Categorical Attributes Using Category Sets.)

Subsections

Change Number of Cases Imported from IPUMS

Import More Attributes from IPUMS

Import Households from IPUMS

Import Specific Geographical Areas from IPUMS

Import Historical Data from IPUMS