About Survey of Construction Microdata Files
Annual microdata files contain all Survey of Construction (SOC) sampled single-family houses started, sold, and/or completed during the year. Houses authorized by building permits but not started at the end of the year, under construction at the end of the year, or for sale at the end of the year are also included. Houses for which construction was abandoned after permit issuance or after start are not included.
The files contain no information that would identify the specific addresses or builders of the sampled houses. In addition, certain variables such as sales price (SLPR) and square footage (SQFS) have been "top and bottom-coded" to further remove the possibility of disclosure. Cases that have been modified as such are identified with "flags." The relationship of modified variables with other variables will be altered.
The Census Bureau has reviewed the SOC Microdata file for unauthorized disclosure of confidential information and has approved the disclosure avoidance practices applied (Approval ID: CBDRB-FY24-0292).
Read MoreUsing the SOC Microdata Files
Information on each variable contained in the files is shown in the
Microdata Variables Excel Guide [48 kb] or the
Printer-friendly Microdata Guide PDF [261 kb].
If you are unsure how to use the Microdata files, you may want to download the
Working with SOC Microdata guide to get you started. This guide walks through the steps of creating basic data tables using Excel PivotTables.
To obtain SOC microdata file(s) in SAS format, please call (301) 763-5160.