Description

GEO1ALT_PR identifies the most detailed areas that can be consistently delineated from the geographic codes available in United States and Puerto Rico PUMS (Public Use Microdata Series) files from 1980 to 2010. In 1980 PUMS files, the smallest identified units are “county groups,” and in later PUMS files, the smallest identified units are Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs). The definitions of PUMAs differ from county groups, and the 1990 PUMAs differ from the 2000 PUMAs (which are used for 2000, 2005 and 2010 samples). GEO1ALT_PR is spatially harmonized to account for these boundary changes. Each GEO1ALT_PR code corresponds to a distinct set of 1980 county groups and 1990 and 2000 PUMAs that collectively cover a consistent geographic area across time. More details on construction of PUMAs can be found in IPUMS USA website.

A separate variable, GEO1_PR, identifies sets of 2000 and 2010 PUMAs that comprise comparable populations for samples from 2000 forward. GEO1_PR corresponds with CPUMA0010 variable in IPUMS USA .

Some detail is lost in harmonization; see the comparability discussion. A GIS map (in shapefile format), corresponding to GEO1ALT_PR can be downloaded from the GIS Boundary files page in the IPUMS International web site. The GIS boundary files for GEO1ALT_PR are based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2000 TIGER/Line files.

The full set of geography variables for Puerto Rico can be found in the IPUMS International Geography variables list. For cross-national geographic analysis on the first and second major administrative level of any country refer to GEOLEV1, and GEOLEV2. More information on IPUMS-International geography can be found here.

Comparability — General

PUMA and county group boundaries were visually inspected within a geographic information system; where boundaries were coincident, or nearly coincident, across time, they were aggregated to the smallest possible number of units to retain the highest possible level of geographic detail. The nation was split into 543 areas that can be consistently identified across samples. A small degree of mismatch was allowed along some boundaries in order to avoid over-aggregation and thereby maintain a high level of geographic detail. Although these boundary mismatches all appeared to be insignificant in size, it is possible that some mismatches involved a substantial population and some portion of the change in population characteristics across samples may be due to changes in the boundaries of the associated county groups and PUMAs. More information on consistent PUMA boundary construction can be found in CONSPUMA. Labels in GEO1ALT_PR match CONSPUMA.

More on PUMAs and the construction of PUMAs can be found in the IPUMS USA website.

PUMAs from the Puerto Rico 1970 sample are not included in the spatially harmonized GEO1_PR or GEO1ALT_PR variable due to significant differences in boundaries compared to boundaries for 1980 to the present.

Universe

Availability

• Puerto Rico: 1980, 1990, 2000, 2005, 2010