Exploring Uses of Linked Census Data to Support Research on Demographic Change in Puerto Rico

Elizabeth Fussell, Nora Schwaller, Todd Gardner and Narayan Sastry

CES Technical Notes Series from Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau

Abstract: The Census Bureau collects demographic data on Puerto Rico in the decennial census and the Puerto Rico Community Survey. These cross-sectional data capture year-to-year change in the size and composition of the population of Puerto Rico. Given Puerto Rico’s status as a US territory and Puerto Rican’s citizenship status, many residents move between the US states and Puerto Rico, contributing to demographic change in Puerto Rico (and in the US states). This technical report explores the opportunity to increase information on demographic change in Puerto Rico by using the Person Identification Validation System (PVS) to link data sets and create longitudinal data on the 2000 and 2010 decennial population cohorts of Puerto Rico residents. We report person record linkage rates for the two decennial cohorts with: (1) the Master Address File Auxiliary Reference File (MAFARF) and Master Address File (MAFX) and (2) the Puerto Rico and American Community Surveys (PRCS and ACS, respectively). These linked data sets have the potential to provide variables that can be used to study residential mobility and a range of other social and demographic outcomes. We find that linkage rates to the MAFARF and MAFX are non-existent before 2007 and very low thereafter, limiting opportunities to examine individual residential histories. Investments in standardizing address formats in Puerto Rico may improve the MAFARF and MAFX data and support migration research. We find that linkage rates of the 2000 and 2010 Puerto Rico decennial census cohorts to repeated cross-sections of the PRCS and ACS are adequate to support research on a wide range of topics.

Keywords: Decennial; Numident; MAF-ARF; ACS; PRCS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-inv
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cen:tnotes:23-15

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