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Consumer Expenditure Surveys
Bureau of Labor Statistics > Consumer Expenditure Survey > Data > Public Use Microdata (PUMD)

Public Use Microdata (PUMD)

The Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) collects data on expenditures, income, and demographics in the United States. The PUMD files provide this information for individual respondents without any information that could identify respondents. PUMD files include adjustments for information that is missing because respondents were unwilling or unable to provide it. The files also have been adjusted to reduce the likelihood of identifying respondents, either directly or through inference.

This format allows researchers to analyze expenditures, income, and demographic trends beyond what the published tables show. However, users of the PUMD files should have a strong background with statistical software.

  • Public Use Microdata Files - PUMD are available in three formats: SAS, STATA, and Comma Delimited (ASCII). Each format presents the data for each year in two zipped files. Data collected in the Interview survey are in the "Interview" file and those with the Diary Survey are in the "Diary" file.
  • CE PUMD Getting Started Guide - This guide will help you understand the PUMD files and how to use them. It explains the methodology used in the CE survey and how to recreate the tables using PUMD.
  • Documentation - Additional resources and files to help understand the PUMD.
  • Public Use Microdata Users' Workshop - Provides users the opportunity to learn how to use the PUMD and to present how they used the PUMD in their research.

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Last Modified Date: May 4, 2023