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*This page is a part of series in [[Classifying Names by Culture]]
*See also: [[American Community Survey (ACS) Data]]
The U.S. Census is taken by [http://www.census.gov/ U.S. Census Bureau]. Micro data is releases in 1% and 5% versions, with different variables available. Of particular interest to researchers is the Public Use Microdata Series (PUMS), which is available for free download and can be used for academic purposes.
==Ethnicity variables in the U.S. Census==
The [http://www.edegan.com/repository/Census-PUMSDocumentation.pdf U.S. Census PUMS documentation] provides the Census questionnaire in appendix D. The questionnaire poses five questions that have a direct bearing on the ethnicity of respondents(original question numbers preserved):
*5. Is this person Spanish /Hispanic /Latino? Mark the "No" box if not Spanish /Hispanic /Latino.
**In the United States — Print name of state.
**Outside the United States — Print name of foreign country
Only questions 6 and 7 provide truly structured data. Questions 7, 11 and 12 allow for free-hand entries and so exhibit substantial variation in encoding/representation of answers.
