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Bureau of Labor Statistics > American Time Use Survey > Home

American Time Use Survey—ATUS 2003‐2018 Multi‐Year Microdata Files

The ATUS multi-year microdata files combine several years of previously-released and publicly-available ATUS microdata. Because changes in time use occur relatively slowly over time, it is possible to combine multiple years of ATUS data; doing so facilitates more detailed analyses about how Americans spend their time.

About ATUS Data

About the Multi-Year ATUS Microdata Files

This page includes links to the 2003-2018 multi-year ATUS microdata files and supporting documentation. These multi-year files combine microdata from the 2003 to 2018 ATUS. Researchers can use these multi-year ATUS microdata files to produce their own time-use estimates or do other analyses. Each ZIP file contains a data file along with computer programs that will read the data file into SAS, SPSS, and Stata. The data files are in CSV-format (comma-separated values).

These files do not contain time-use estimates. Time-use estimates for various activities and selected demographic and labor force characteristics are available on the ATUS Web site under the headings News Releases, ATUS Database, Charts and Tables.

Differences Between the Multi-Year and Single-Year ATUS Microdata Files

While the multi-year files are similar in structure to the single-year files, there are several important differences, some, but not all, of which are mentioned here:

Multi-year files are only available for the ATUS-CPS, ATUS Respondent, Roster, Who, Activity, Activity Summary, Eldercare Roster, and Replicate Weights files. They are not available for the Call History, Case History, and Trips files.
The 2003-2018 multi-year ATUS-CPS file contains three variables that are allocation flags, but the single-year files contain many more. Please see the 2003-2018 ATUS-CPS Data Dictionary (PDF) for details.
The 2003-2018 multi-year Respondent file contains two variables that are allocation flags, but the single-year files contain many more. Please see the ATUS 2003-2018 Interview Data Dictionary (PDF) for more details.
The 2011-2018 Eldercare Roster file and the 2003-2018 Roster and Who multi-year files do not contain any allocation flags. Please see the ATUS 2003-2018 Interview Data Dictionary (PDF) for more details.
Because Activity codes changed somewhat between 2003 and 2018, the Activity and Activity Summary files use activity codes that appear in the 2003-2018 ATUS Coding Lexicon (PDF).

There are other differences between the multi-year and single-year ATUS files. For more detailed information on these differences, please see the 2003-2018 ATUS-CPS Data Dictionary (PDF) and the ATUS 2003-2018 Interview Data Dictionary (PDF).

ATUS Data

Multi-Year ATUS Data Dictionaries (PDF Files)

ATUS 2003-2018 Interview Data Dictionary Describes the Respondent, Roster, Activity, Who, and Eldercare Roster files, and includes names and descriptions of the variables appearing on these files. This dictionary should be used only with the multi-year microdata files.
ATUS-CPS 2003-2018 Data Dictionary Describes the ATUS-CPS file and includes names and descriptions of the variables appearing on the file. Variables on the ATUS-CPS file were collected 2 to 5 months before the ATUS interview. This dictionary should be used only with the multi-year ATUS-CPS microdata file.
ATUS 2005-2018 Survey Methodology Data Dictionary Describes the Case history file and includes names and descriptions of the variables appearing on the file.
Census Industry and Occupation codes

Multi-Year ATUS Activity Lexicons (PDF Files)

2003-2018 ATUS Coding Lexicon (PDF)

Multi-Year ATUS Data Files

ATUS 2003-2018 Respondent file (zip) (13.9 MB) The Respondent file contains information about ATUS respondents, including their labor force status and earnings.
ATUS 2003-2018 Roster file (zip) (2.6 MB) The Roster file contains information about household members and nonhousehold children (under 18) of ATUS respondents. It includes information such as age and sex.
ATUS 2003-2018 Activity file (zip) (66.8 MB) The Activity file contains information about how ATUS respondents spent their diary day. It includes information such as activity codes, activity start and stop times, and locations. Because Activity codes have changed somewhat between 2003 and 2018, this file uses activity codes that appear in the 2003-2018 ATUS Coding Lexicon (PDF).
ATUS 2003-2018 Activity summary file (zip) (12.8 MB) The Activity summary file contains information about the total time each ATUS respondent spent doing each activity on the diary day. Because Activity codes have changed somewhat between 2003 and 2018, this file uses activity codes that appear in the 2003-2018 ATUS Coding Lexicon (PDF)
ATUS 2003-2018 Who file (zip) (16.7 MB) The Who file includes codes that indicate who was present during each activity.
ATUS-CPS 2003-2018 file (zip) (81.6 MB) The ATUS-CPS file contains information about each household member of all individuals selected to participate in ATUS. The information on the ATUS-CPS file was collected 2 to 5 months before the ATUS interview.
ATUS 2011-2018 Eldercare Roster file (zip) (0.1 MB) The ATUS Eldercare Roster file contains information about people for whom the respondent provided care. Eldercare data have been collected since 2011.
ATUS 2003-2018 Replicate weights file (zip) (234.7 MB) The Replicate weights file contains miscellaneous ATUS weights.
ATUS 2005-2018 Case history file (zip) (3.8 MB) The ATUS Case history file contains information about the interview process, such as interviewer identifiers and interview outcome codes.

ATUS Survey Documentation

Last Modified Date: June 19, 2019