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Bureau of Labor Statistics > American Time Use Survey > Home

American Time Use Survey—ATUS 2003‐2020 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 2003-2020 multi-year ATUS microdata files and supporting documentation. These multi-year files combine microdata from the 2003 to 2020 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.

IMPORTANT

The 2020 ATUS was greatly affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Data collection was suspended in 2020 from mid-March to mid-May. ATUS data files for 2020 contain all ATUS data collected in 2020—both before and after data collection was suspended. For more information, please see the Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the 2020 ATUS page.
If you plan to conduct your own analyses of the 2020 ATUS public use microdata files, please first review the ATUS technical documentation about pandemic effects on these files.

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, Case History and Replicate Weights files. They are not available for the Call History and Trips files.
The 2003-2020 multi-year ATUS-CPS file contains three variables that are allocation flags, but the single-year files contain many more. Please see the 2003-2020 ATUS-CPS Data Dictionary (PDF) for details.
The 2003-2020 multi-year Respondent file contains two variables that are allocation flags, but the single-year files contain many more. Please see the ATUS 2003-2020 Interview Data Dictionary (PDF) for more details.
The 2011-2020 Eldercare Roster file and the 2003-2020 Roster and Who multi-year files do not contain any allocation flags. Please see the ATUS 2003-2020 Interview Data Dictionary (PDF) for more details.
Because Activity codes changed somewhat between 2003 and 2020, the Activity and Activity Summary files use activity codes that appear in the 2003-2020 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 2003-2020 ATUS-CPS Data Dictionary (PDF) and the ATUS 2003-2020 Interview Data Dictionary (PDF).

ATUS Data

Multi-Year ATUS Data Dictionaries (PDF Files)

ATUS 2003-2020 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 2003-2020 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 2005-2020 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 Lexicon (PDF File)

2003-2020 ATUS Coding Lexicon (PDF)

Multi-Year ATUS Data Files

ATUS 2003-2020 Respondent file (zip) (15.2 MB) The Respondent file contains information about ATUS respondents, including their labor force status and earnings.
ATUS 2003-2020 Roster file (zip) (2.9 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 2003-2020 Activity file (zip) (72.5 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 the present, this file uses activity codes that appear in the 2003-2020 ATUS Coding Lexicon (PDF).
ATUS 2003-2020 Activity summary file (zip) (14 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 the present, this file uses activity codes that appear in the 2003-2020 ATUS Coding Lexicon (PDF)
ATUS 2003-2020 Who file (zip) (18 MB) The Who file includes codes that indicate who was present during each activity.
ATUS-CPS 2003-2020 file (zip) (91.6 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 2011-2020 Eldercare Roster file (zip) (0.2 MB) The ATUS Eldercare Roster file contains information about people for whom the respondent provided care. Eldercare data have been collected since 2011.
ATUS 2003-2019 Replicate weights file (zip) (245.8 MB) The 2003-19 Replicate weights file contains miscellaneous ATUS weights. The weighting method changed in 2020 to account for the suspension of data collection in early 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Multi-year data file users should use the 2003-19 replicate weights file.
ATUS 2019-2020 Pandemic Replicate weights file (zip) (56.1 MB) The Pandemic Replicate weights file for 2019-20 contains 160 replicate final weights for each ATUS final weight created using the 2020 weighting method. See chapter 7 of the ATUS User's Guide for more information about the 2020 weighting method.
ATUS 2005-2020 Case history file (zip) (4.3 MB) The ATUS Case history file contains information about the interview process, such as interviewer identifiers and interview outcome codes.
CORRECTED — The Case history file, originally released on July 22, 2021, was re-released on November 30, 2021 with corrected data for the variable TUINCENT. TUINCENT identifies incentive cases, but excludes incentive expansion cases. No other data were changed.

ATUS Survey Documentation

Last Modified Date: November 30, 2021