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Bureau of Labor Statistics > American Time Use Survey > Home

American Time Use Survey—2021 Microdata Files

This page includes links to the 2021 ATUS microdata files and supporting documentation. Researchers can use the 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).

The microdata files do not contain time-use estimates. Tables showing time-use estimates for major activity categories, selected detailed activities, and selected demographic and labor force characteristics are available on the ATUS Web site under the headings News Releases, Charts and Tables.

About ATUS Data

Basic ATUS Data

2021 Basic ATUS Data Dictionaries (PDF Files)

ATUS 2021 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.
ATUS-CPS 2021 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.
Census Industry and Occupation codes

2021 Basic ATUS Data Files

ATUS 2021 Respondent file (zip) (0.7 MB) The Respondent file contains information about ATUS respondents, including their labor force status and earnings.
ATUS 2021 Roster file (zip) (0.1 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 2021 Activity file (zip) (2.8 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.
ATUS 2021 Activity summary file (zip) (0.6 MB) The Activity summary file contains information about the total time each ATUS respondent spent doing each activity on the diary day.
ATUS 2021 Who file (zip) (0.6 MB) The Who file includes codes that indicate who was present during each activity.
ATUS 2021 Eldercare Roster file (zip) (0.02 MB) The Eldercare Roster file contains information about people for whom ATUS respondents provided care. It includes information such as age, sex, and duration of care.
ATUS-CPS 2021 file (zip) (6.5 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.

Additional ATUS Data

2021 Additional ATUS Data Dictionaries (PDF Files)

ATUS 2021 Survey Methodology Data Dictionary Describes the Case history and Call history files, and includes names and descriptions of the variables appearing on these files.

2021 Additional ATUS Data Files

ATUS 2021 Case history file (zip) (0.2 MB) The Case history file contains information about the interview process, such as interviewer identifiers and interview outcome codes.
ATUS 2021 Call history file (zip) (2.1 MB) The Call history file contains information about each call attempt, including the call date and outcome.
ATUS 2021 Replicate weights (zip) (10.8 MB) The Replicate weights file contains miscellaneous ATUS weights.

2021 Survey Documentation

Last Modified Date: June 23, 2022