IPUMS Samples

Download IPUMS Samples

IPUMS Regular Samples
The density of the regular samples varies widely. Refer to the online documentation for more information. (Note: uncompressed file sizes listed below are approximate.)

1850 Free Population (7.0 Mb compressed, 79 Mb uncompressed)
1860 Free Population, preliminary sample (4.9 Mb compressed, 53 Mb uncompressed)
1860 Free Population with Black Oversample, preliminary sample (5.0 Mb compressed, 55 Mb uncompressed)
1870 General, preliminary sample (7.2 Mb compressed, 76 Mb uncompressed)
1870 General with Black Oversample, preliminary sample (8.3 Mb compressed, 88 Mb uncompressed)
1880 General (21.7 Mb compressed, 204 Mb uncompressed)
1900 General (3.7 Mb compressed, 43 Mb uncompressed)
1910 General (14.5 Mb compressed, 198 Mb uncompressed)
1910 Black Oversample (815 Kb compressed, 9.5 Mb uncompressed)
1910 Hispanic Oversample (4.4 Mb compressed, 38.6 Mb uncompressed)
1920 General, preliminary sample (24.7 Mb compressed, 217 Mb uncompressed)
1940 General (62.0 Mb compressed, 584 Mb uncompressed)
1950 General (74.3 Mb compressed, 798 Mb uncompressed)
1960 General (82.0 Mb compressed, 790 Mb uncompressed)
1970 Form 1 State ("5%" state) (103.6 Mb compressed, 929 Mb uncompressed)
1970 Form 2 State ("15%" state) (104.6 Mb compressed, 929 Mb uncompressed)
1970 Form 1 Metro ("5%" county group) (102.7 Mb compressed, 929 Mb uncompressed)
1970 Form 2 Metro ("15%" county group) (103.1 Mb compressed, 929 Mb uncompressed)
1980 1% Metro (county group or "B" sample) (148.0 Mb compressed, 1075 Mb uncompressed)
1990 1% Metro (167.7 Mb compressed, 1208 Mb uncompressed)
1990 1% Unweighted (derived from 5% state sample) (157.2 Mb compressed, 1132 Mb uncompressed)

IPUMS Small Samples
Small samples contain approximately 21,000 randomly selected households. Uncompressed files are approximately 7 to 12 times as large as their compressed counterparts. (Note: the small samples for 1860 and 1870 have fewer cases than other years, because the preliminary samples do not have 21,000 households).

1850 Free Population (4.4 Mb compressed)
1860 Free Population (2.2 Mb compressed)
1870 General (3.4 Mb compressed)
1880 General (4.7 Mb compressed)
1900 General (3.7 Mb compressed)
1910 General (3.9 Mb compressed)
1920 General (3.8 Mb compressed)
1940 General (4.0 Mb compressed)
1950 General (3.7 Mb compressed)
1960 General (3.4 Mb compressed)
1970 Form 1 State ("5%" state) (3.5 Mb compressed)
1970 Form 2 State ("15%" state) (3.5 Mb compressed)
1970 Form 1 Metro ("5%" county group) (3.5 Mb compressed)
1970 Form 2 Metro ("15%" county group) (3.5 Mb compressed)
1980 1% Metro (4.0 Mb compressed)
1990 1% Metro (4.1 Mb compressed)

IPUMS Tiny Samples
Tiny samples contain approximately 2100 randomly selected households. Uncompressed files are approximately 7 to 12 times as large as their compressed counterparts.

1850 Free Population (449 Kb compressed)
1860 Free Population (448 Kb compressed)
1870 General (471 Kb compressed)
1880 General (460 Kb compressed)
1900 General (376 Kb compressed)
1910 General (391 Kb compressed)
1920 General (376 Kb compressed)
1940 General (382 Kb compressed)
1950 General (355 Kb compressed)
1960 General (331 Kb compressed)
1970 Form 1 State ("5%" state) (351 Kb compressed)
1970 Form 2 State ("15%" state) (349 Kb compressed)
1970 Form 1 Metro ("5%" county group) (351 Kb compressed)
1970 Form 2 Metro ("15%" county group) (354 Kb compressed)
1980 1% Metro (408 Kb compressed)
1990 1% Metro (417 Kb compressed)

Software
IPUMS data files are available only in unix-compressed format--various utilities are capable of uncompressing the files.