What is the smallest unit of geography identified in the national and metropolitan American Housing Survey (AHS) surveys?

The Geography in the Public Use File document best describes geographies available on the AHS PUF. It is located at the following webpages, depending on the survey panel you are interested in:

• 2015-2023
• 1985-2013

The 2015 and onward Public Use File s (PUFs) do not include many of the geographic indicators included in prior year PUFs. This is due to the disclosure avoidance procedures required by the U.S. Census Bureau. The 2015 to 2023 integrated national longitudinal sample PUFs (national PUFs) include two geographic variables: Census Division (DIVISION) and 2013 OMB CBSA code (OMB13CBSA), while the independent metropolitan area longitudinal oversample PUFs (metropolitan area PUFs) included OMB13CBSA only for disclosure avoidance reasons. It should be noted that the census divisions listed above can be collapsed into four census regions as follows:

• Northeast Census Region–New England and Middle Atlantic Census Divisions.
• Midwest Census Region–East North Central and West North Central Census Divisions.
• South Census Region–South Atlantic, East South Central, and West South Central Census Divisions.
• West Census Region–Mountain and Pacific Census Divisions.

Although withheld from the PUF, data for selected states are available from the AHS Table Creator. For more information about specific geography variables, use the AHS Codebook and filter on the Subtopic “Geography.”