Data User Agreements and Public Use Files

Director’s Message Text:

From the Desk of John H. Thompson, Director, US Census Bureau

Subject: Data User Agreements and Public Use Files

The Census Bureau recognizes the importance of providing you, our data users, products that allow you to pursue your own research questions and discover new and innovative ways of using our data. We are dedicated to ensuring our products are a key component of new research, and the development of new methods that advance the fields of data science, social science, and economics.

To that end, I want to reaffirm our commitment to providing you Public Use Files and Public Use Microdata Sample files that meet the same high standards of quality that you have come to rely on for your valuable research.

To continue to provide this service, we need a commitment from you in return.

As an agency, we do everything we can to fulfill our legal, and ethical obligation to our respondents to protect their confidentiality, and apply the most cutting-edge disclosure avoidance methodologies to our data. Despite all of that, we feel we can do more.

That is why we are asking you and all of our users to register and accept a Data Use Agreement before downloading our Public Use Files and Public Use Microdata Sample files. We need a pledge from you that you will use our data in a way that is consistent with the standards of ethical research, and that does not have the potential to harm any of our respondents.

Registering and accepting the Data Use Agreement benefits you as well. Not only does it affirm that you value the quality of our statistical products, but it also strengthens our research community by keeping you in the loop on issues that affect the data you are using for your work. We promise that we will never use your information for any other purpose because we rely on your trust too.

We see this as a positive step toward forming a strong, long-time partnership between the Census Bureau and the whole of the research community. We sincerely believe that this partnership is crucial to our ongoing mission of supporting research-based innovation and fulfilling the needs of our customers.

Data User Agreement Text:

Federal law [13 U.S.C. §§ 8 and 9] requires the Census Bureau to publish data in a manner that does not permit use of the data alone, or in combination with other available information, to identify any particular respondent to a Census Bureau survey. The identification of a person or establishment or disclosure of information collected from that person or establishment in the course of a Census Bureau survey violates the assurances of confidentiality provided by federal law.

The Census Bureau has created Public Use Files (PUFs) and Public Use Microdata Sample Files (PUMS) to exclude information that would directly identify respondents and characteristics that may lead to the identification of respondents. The Census Bureau provides PUFs and PUMS files to facilitate statistical research and analysis.

Therefore, users will:

1. Use the PUFs and PUMS files for legitimate statistical research and analysis;

2. not use the PUFs or PUMS files, alone or in combination with any other Census or non-Census data, to identify any individual person, household, business or other entity;

3. not link or combine information from the PUFs or PUMS files with information in any other Census or non-Census dataset in a manner that identifies an individual person, household, business or other entity;

4. not publish information from the PUFs or PUMS files, particularly in combination with any other Census or non-Census data, in a manner that identifies any individual person, household, business or other entity; and

5. not use the identity of any person or establishment discovered inadvertently and advise the Director of the Census Bureau of any such discovery by calling the U.S. Census Bureau’s Policy Coordination Office at 301-763-6280.

By using these data, you signify your agreement to comply with the conditions stated above.

Proposed DUA Registration Layout and Text:

Please read the statement from the Director of the Census Bureau, John Thompson. <link>

Before using these data, you must register with an email address and agree to abide by the Data User Agreement below. By registering, you also agree to receive occasional email messages that are relevant to your downloaded datasets. Such messages will be infrequent but useful. We will safeguard the confidentiality of your email address. Following registration, you will receive a “Welcome” email with a copy of this Data User Agreement. The email will also contain a link that you can click to opt-out of further email messages.

Data User Agreement:

Federal law [13 U.S.C. §§ 8 and 9] requires the Census Bureau to publish data in a manner that does not permit use of the data alone, or in combination with other available information, to identify any particular respondent to a Census Bureau survey. The identification of a person or establishment or disclosure of information collected from that person or establishment in the course of a Census Bureau survey violates the assurances of confidentiality provided by federal law.

The Census Bureau has created Public Use Files (PUFs) and Public Use Microdata Sample Files (PUMS) to exclude information that would directly identify respondents and characteristics that may lead to the identification of respondents. The Census Bureau provides PUFs and PUMS files to facilitate statistical research and analysis.

Therefore, users will:

1. Use the PUFs and PUMS files for legitimate statistical research and analysis;

2. not use the PUFs or PUMS files, alone or in combination with any other Census or non-Census data, to identify any individual person, household, business or other entity;

3. not link or combine information from the PUFs or PUMS files with information in any other Census or non-Census dataset in a manner that identifies an individual person, household, business or other entity;

4. not publish information from the PUFs or PUMS files, particularly in combination with any other Census or non-Census data, in a manner that identifies any individual person, household, business or other entity; and

5. not use the identity of any person or establishment discovered inadvertently and advise the Director of the Census Bureau of any such discovery by calling the U.S. Census Bureau’s Policy Coordination Office at 301-763-6280.

By using these data, you signify your agreement to comply with the conditions stated above.

To Download

When downloading the Public Use Data File, your contact information is required. It is used only for providing a copy of the Data User Agreement and for infrequent but useful follow-up messages about the particular data file(s) you download. Your email is not distributed to other parties and it is kept confidential.

To download the file, do the following:

1. Enter your contact information. Required fields are indicated with an asterisk (*).

2. Select the desired file format.

3. Click Download File.

Top of Form

* Name


Title


* City


* State


* E-mail Address

(To ensure you are able to receive Census Bureau emails, add census.gov to your Safe Sender List.)

* Download Format
SPSS Version (file size = 32 MB)
ASCII Version (file size = 28 MB)

* I have read and agree to the Data Use Agreement.

    Reset

Email:

From: US Census Bureau

Subject: Census Bureau Registration and Data User Agreement

Thank you for registering with the Census Bureau [Databank?]. When you registered, you agreed to abide by the Census Bureau Data User Agreement, copied below. Please review the agreement and comply with the stated conditions. Following the Data User Agreement, you can read more about [Databank] email messages that you may receive from the US Census Bureau.

Data User Agreement

Federal law [13 U.S.C. §§ 8 and 9] requires the Census Bureau to publish data in a manner that does not permit use of the data alone, or in combination with other available information, to identify any particular respondent to a Census Bureau survey. The identification of a person or establishment or disclosure of information collected from that person or establishment in the course of a Census Bureau survey violates the assurances of confidentiality provided by federal law.

The Census Bureau has created Public Use Files (PUFs) and Public Use Microdata Sample Files (PUMS) to exclude information that would directly identify respondents and characteristics that may lead to the identification of respondents. The Census Bureau provides PUFs and PUMS files to facilitate statistical research and analysis.

Therefore, users will:

1. Use the PUFs and PUMS files for legitimate statistical research and analysis;

2. not use the PUFs or PUMS files, alone or in combination with any other Census or non-Census data, to identify any individual person, household, business or other entity;

3. not link or combine information from the PUFs or PUMS files with information in any other Census or non-Census dataset in a manner that identifies an individual person, household, business or other entity;

4. not publish information from the PUFs or PUMS files, particularly in combination with any other Census or non-Census data, in a manner that identifies any individual person, household, business or other entity; and

5. not use the identity of any person or establishment discovered inadvertently and will advise the Director of the Census Bureau by calling (PCO or Director’s Office Number?), of any such discovery.

By using these data, you signify your agreement to comply with the conditions stated above.

<Should we include contact information to report misuse?>

Email messages from [Census Bureau Databank]

You will receive occasional email messages that are relevant to your downloaded dataset(s). These messages will be infrequent but useful. Some possible messages might pertain to updates to datasets or errata. If you wish to opt out of further email messages from [the Databank], please copy and paste the following link into a browser window, and enter your email address: https://.census.gov/databank/datausermessages/opt_out